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THE 



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A SERIES OF ORIGINAL POEMS. 



■}. 



V 



BY C RUSSELL CHRISTIAN. 



E3STXj-A.I?,C3-E!ID EDITIOUST. 




HUNTINGTON, W. VA. 

PRINTED AT THE ARGUS BOOK AND JOB OFFICE. 
1885. 



I I* 



EptCred according \6 act qf Qougre.ss in the ;jef^ 1881 , 

BY CHARLES RUSSELL CHRISTIAN, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 

Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1885, 

BY CHARLES RUSSELL CHRISTIAN, 

In the Office of the Librarian of .Congress at Washington, 



The Dedication. 



Huntington, January 2, 1885. 

DEAR S1R- 

In republishing these pieces how shall I address myself 
to the public? Like one -of- -England's Bards, I hardly know 
whether to regard myself as building a monument or as bury- 
ing the dead. I have, been for six years the pioneer of Song 
in this songless land; and When T Would have laid down my 
pen in disgust, and retired from .the dangerous paths of Song, 
it was at your request that I again entered, the field, and with 
the motto of "Try, try again, "took up anew the burden of 
Life. ' TV,.:. 

As to how I have succeeded, the world may judge for 
itself. But those whose friendship I most desire, and to re- 
ceive whose approval is my highest ambition, will not be led 
by unfair criticism to doubt my honest endeavor to sow the 
seeds of literature in this hitherto barren land. 

To you these rhymes are justly due for encouragements 
extended when Hope itself had begun to fail. 

C. RUSSELL CHRISTIAN. 

To Dr. W. P. Bryan. 



¥ 



RRATA. 



In the following table only those errors are noted which 
might obscure the sense intended. Also some changes rec- 
ommended by the author : 

Page 16, line 14, read " signs" for " sign." 
Page 26, line 2, read "in ruins overcast.'' 
Page 31, line 2x, read "ravishment" for " vanishment." 
Page 41, line 1, include "a" in quotation. 
Pages 60 and 51, let final line of each stanza of " The De 
ity " be *' Alas for human love below I" 
Page 76, line 5, read " Tis" for " Tie." 
Page 98. line 21, read " solace" for " salace." 
Page 102, line 3, insert " land " after " and." 
Page 103, Hup 28, read "setst" for " sets." 
Page 104, line 8, read "charge" for " feat." 
Page 118, line 6, read " Americ's " for " Amric's." 



Tabl 5 of Contents. 



The SoDg of War, 

The Foot-Prints of Time, 


FIRST. 


9 




10 


The Glance at War, 




12 






17 


To an Old Sword, 

The Glance Through Time, 

The Vision ©f the World, 




18 
19 




22 
24 


The Reign of Peace, 
The Song of Oblivion, 




25 




..... 25 


szEoonsro. 


26 




26 


The Oblivion of Death, 




27 


The Oblivion of the Past, 




28 






30 


The Vision of Oblivion, 




32 


:f^:r,t 


THIRD. 


34 






36 




37 


At tbe Grave of Napoleon, 




38 




39 






40 


The Crime of Guiteau, 




41 




... 42 



6 THE MO VNTAIN BA h D. 

The Death of Piza»-ro, 43 

The Count Pulaski 44 

The Crime of Booth, 45 

Lafayette in Prison, 46 

Washington, • 46 

Death of Louis XVI 47 

Mahomet, 47 



ZF-A.IR/r FOURTH. 

The Prelude, «... . -.. 48 

The Reijrn of Love, 49 

The Destiny, ■•<••,"•••... •.-.'.: :■• v z 50 

To Jealousy, ' ........ 51 

To Victoria, ...... ......... 52 

Restlessness, '.. ....;.... 53, 

On New Year's Day, ;'■' ......... 54 

At the Close of Day, 5H 

Timberlee, ;..: .;......* 57 

To a Sweet Singer, ..... ......... 5$ 

«' I Ne'er Shall Smile Again/' .-.' . . .". ...... . . 59 

1 he Lover's Farewell, 60. 

To My Betrothed ;.. .......... 61 

The Curse of Fate. . 62 

The Autograph, 63 

The Declaration, ... ......... , 64 

To an Early Friend, ......... 65 

The Power of Love, 66 

To Time, ... :v.. . . v . . . 67 

ToMiriam, .....:... 67 

Love ...... 68 

The Lover's Return, I .:\ . . 69 

To My Abspnt Dove, ...... .. 69 

Absence, 70 

On the Cliff, ; ........ . 71 

Lines to Miriam, . . .:. ..... 72 

The Farewell, 73 

TheEpitaph, . ..«,.... • 74 



:p.a.:r,t fifth:. 

The Atheist, ......... ° ....... ..; 75 

The Hereafter, .....:... 76 

The Threateners .'. ...77 



SHE, MQfm4I& BAUD. 7 

, The Impious Farmers, 78 

The Papa! Interdict,' T.°. . ■ "" f% °. : : . . .......... 80 

The Scriptures*,. V." . . ""'.".* .° ".... °',.V... 80 

The Ship of Youth; :::.... ^ :....;. ^; y : ...... 81 

The Crucifixion, ...... ":..;.' "''- ' : "'". ''. '. '. '..- 8:> 

The Mdrniiig Hymn, ".'.'. °..... ....,- 84 

Is There a'GVid? .. . """„....... ' c \;^'..... x "85 

The Day is O'er, 87 

The Evening Hymn? ---* a .-.p? -.... .-^ £8 

pie Train Ride,' .../.../ ^ .TV;,. ,,.,.,, ,.. .89 

The Universal Scales, * \0 

The Thanatopsis,' ...... "'" ' .-.-,. -^ ..,.".:.,.. 91 

■The Musician, .... ;h.;V../, ' 93 

The Midnight Hymn, ...... ' ',; ,- -•••••••.. 94 

The Voices of the Night, " ...'■ i .V;V '"''"' ' ■•■' 95 

The Drunkard's Wife, 98 

The Hand wrih^tm the Wall, ,..;.*- 100 

Apostrophe to the Sun, • •> . .'.v - ... . . t , 102 

The Overthrow of" Babylon, .";. -" ...'.".'. 104 

The Son of Abou Khan, .:•.,*?«.,>•, " t . . '.;'. 105 

The Midnight Lamp, . '':"' ........ 107 

'The Song at the "Red Sea, .......... .......... 108 

"After the' Storm,.. „.. .... 109 



The Two Sones, 110 

The Trial by Jury, 112 

Bunker's Hill, " ...,^.. 113 

In the Alleghanies, . . 114 

The Oracle,... 115 

In Futuro, 117 

The Whipping-Post Tree, . 118 

Arnold's March to Canada, 119 

The Surrender of Cornwallis, 120 

Grandfather's Clock, 121 

The Jew's Lament, 122 

The Laud of Our Fathers, 124 



ZF^ZR/T SEYElsTH. 

The Power of Fright, 126 

The Vision of a Specter, 127 

The Monster, 131 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Arrival, 


. .. 133 


The Loss of Youth, .,, 

The Midnight Soliloquy, 


135 

. ... 136 

137 


The Tomb of Hope, 


138 

139 


IF-A^ZR/T EIGHTH. 
The Silent Beggar, 


140 

141 

... 142 

143 

. ... 144 

146 

148 
149 


Moscow, ... ... .... 


152 


The Battle of Trafalgar, 

The Turk-Bell, 


, , .. 153 
154 
155 




156 



THE 




IF-A-IR/B FIKST. 



The Song of Waf^ 

fj»F War to overturn ti thousand thrones — 
HH War to establish Barbarism and Night — 
.Loud War to drown a thousaud victims' groans, 

Sing — fiery Muse!— and guide the strains aright ! 
The voice of War — to say the least — is doom ; 

The tread of War is ruin to the laud ; 
The crown of War is Death's most? horrid plume ; 

The rights of War are written in the sand. 
War roars — and horrid thunder shakes the spheres ! 

War sleeps — and Peace attempts to heal the wound ; 
War speaks — and vengeance of a thousand years 

Urges the fray, and scatters bale around : — 
Thus hath it been — shall be - since War began, 

Foe to the world — to Science — and to man ! 

(9) 



10 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



Th - Foot-Prints of Time. 

IH&ULL many a ruined tower is rescued from beneath the 

M%$ sands, 

Wrought o'er with pictured-language by the Jong-forgotten 

bands ; 
Thus many au ancient record letps into the living light, 
And Day advances slowly — slowly — toward the seat of Night; 
And many an ancieut monarch, though his latest resting- 
place, 
No more can boast the column reared in feooor of his race, 
And though his jiame be blotted from the records of the Past, 
Still lives in his examples— lives, and lives until the last! 
The touch of Death is ruin to this tenement of clay ; 
Man dies — but his examples live until the latest day ! 
The touch of Death is fatal to the mortal overwrought ; 
Man dies — but^his examples live and mold a world of thought! 
A vasty wheel i8 set in motion at the early morn, 
Too soon the motor falls asleep, and from the scene is borne ; 
And yet around its axle, rolling onward in its might, 
The wheel with its momentum whirls — and whirls until the 

night! • 

A voice from out the ruins of the ages long ago 
Cries out, " The dead survive the death — the future age shall 

show!" 
The shallow-hearted geutry of the present ages, drink 
From many a living fount — why not?— yet never pause to 

think ; 

That where they sit in pleasure with the beings they adore, 
Their fathers shook the bloody lance, and braved the battle's 

roar! * ■'}. 

The pools are filled with water now that once were filled with 

blood ; „ ■ 

And ripest fruits are shaking where the ranked warriors 

stood ; 
The sword is now a plowshare, and the spear a pruning hook ; 
The voice of Truth around the hearth, of Love beside the 
, brook ; 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 11 

The wells are filled with water, and the ci:y's walls are high, 
And e'en the voice of Death is smooth — his reign is passing 

by— 
But oh ! the voice historic speaks, and fills the world with 

gloom ; 
The Past is but an oracle to teach the coming doom ! 
r lhe temple-dome of Freedom, reared aloft amid the tears 
Of many thousand thousands, is the produce of the years; 
The gazing wall — the only refuge from the godless horde — 
Was reared aloft, one hand at work — the other on the sword ; 
Thus ages, till at last one land re-echoes Freedom's tread — 
But every pillar of the State is pillowed on the dead ! 
The myriad ages, rolling onward through the boundless Past, 
Bequeathed to one another all their burden as they passed, 
Uniil the mighty whirlwind, heaving onward in its course, 
Collided wih the present — losing nothing of its force — 
Then on again the Causes through the Future as the Past, 
Producing grand effect which lives— and lives until the last! 
The rise and fall of systems by the thousand come, and go, 
And scarce a living trace remains to scorn the overthrow ; 
A darkness born of Death is rolling onward from the East ; 
The waves of Lethe roll where Science held a royal feast! 
The gleam of light that still remains L pushing toward the 
1 West— 

The star of Freedom, like the .Sun, cannot afford to rest; 
The war — the peace — the good — the crime — the ignorance — 

the wit — 
Raise man at times to Paradise, then diag him to the Pit; 
The while his great examples stand — and stand until the 

; last — 
And present ages prosper on the ruins of the Past. 




12 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Glance at Wai^ 

i. - 

[HE roar of guns — the clash of swords and spears 
Shall be my song — my Muses, blood and tears ! 
Vaiuly may Man expect the hills to bloom 
With ausht but flowers to deck his early tomb, 
While warriors hold their stainless names aud free; 
While o'er the frightened waste of land and sea 
The infernal War-cloud rolls in fierce disdain, 
Darker than Night and pillowed on the slain ! 

II. 
Ages of Peace contribute to refine 
Untutored Man that bends before her shrine; 
While Science in profusion pours the light 
Scorning Disaster and repelling Night — 
And o'er the Earth subjected to her sway 
Unfurls the standard and the powers of Day. 
'T is now the murderer meets with justice due ; 
'T is now the thief finds other work to do ; 
'T is now that Perjury — covered with disgrace — 
Withdraws from Man and hides his witheriug face ; 
Adultery now must curb her far delight; 
Now Arson ceases to disturb the night ;- 
And blood stained Villainy from his ancient throne 
Falls in dishonor — powerless and alone — 
While Man in triumph all the paths may trace 
Of universal, undisputed Peace. 

III. 
Thus governs Peace ; but in Oblivion far 
Sink light and justice 'neath the power of War, 
That with monarchic strides upturns the ground — 
Throned on the flames that scatter bale around ; 
For Peace — though clad in more than regal state — 
Expires beneath the burden when the weight 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD 13 

Of War oppresses that with hostile hand, 
O'erthrows proud armies and o'erwhelras the land! 
The warrior's trade is founded deep in strife 
Where Life expires and Death aspires to "life; 
Where'er the warrior treads the trembling sod 
He sends the myriads forth lo meet their God ! 
Enthroned on War to scourge the guilty land, 
With shining spears upheld in either hand, 
Sublime he rides o'er fields of human gore — 
Hears music in the infernal cannon's roar — 
And smiles on cities wrapped in sheets' of flame — 
And lisps in secret, " 7 Ids will give me fame!" 
The course of War is marked by ghastly Death ; 
Both State and Church surrender now their breath, 
And to the honored sepulcher of Fame 
Resign their vigor and pick up their name! 
Whiln loud and louder sound the dread alarms — 
A universal shout — •' To arms ! To arms !" 
And soon as called, ten thousand warriors move « 
Their skill in slaughtering human foes to prove; 
And years of tumult roll across the land, 
And hideous crimes arise and take their stand. 

IV. 

'T is now the thief in all his fiendish power, 
Infests the laud — disturbs the midnight hour — 
And fearless, prowling where no law survives — 
Or, if surviving, writhing iu the gyves— ~ 
Lays impious hands on moneys not bis own, 
Removes the treasure and departs unknown ; 
'T is now that Perjury stalks amid the land, 
And swears to fight for this or t' other band. 
But finds no sooner victory with his foes 
Than in their scale his final weight he throws ! 
'T is now the murderer marks his ancient foe, 
And from the silent ambush " lays him low ;" 
Then turns a patriot, and in Stentor tones 
Praises the War and drowns his victim's groans — 
And trusting in the Code of War to save, 
Treads unrepentant o'er his victim's -grave! 
Nor stops the power of infamy with men ; 
The milder sex forsake their course amain ; 
Incest, Adultery and their kindred crimes 
Flock round the camp and breed their kind betimes ; 



14 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

And wheu true Chastity in all her clrarms 
Is found in woman that disdains his arms, 
Some heartless villain — iised to scenes of gore - 
Fit school to learn crimes shuddered at before - 
Breeds impious rape in fiis infernal brain, 
Seizes — and spoils— and leaves her in disdain! 



V. 
'T is now (he Hero waves his sword on high, 
And calls aloud for " those who dare to die ;" 
And- drives, his men o'er fields of flame and smoke 
W here thousands cease to breathe at every stroke ! 
Now flash their fiery swords aloft in air, 
And twice ten thousand spears reflect the glare; 
And countless steeds bewildered scour the plain, 
Bestrewed with gory fragments of the slain ! 
The roar of guns is echoed far .around. 
In torn -s at once that shake both air and ground ; 
The roll of drums— the clash of swords and spears — 
Unseat the soul and seem to shake the spheres ; 
While flaps his wing Destruction o'er the plain, 
And gluts himself insatiate on the slain ! 
As two fierce clouds — o'erfraught with power and rage — 
Throned on opposing winds, in war engage 
Aud rush together heedless of the cost, 
Till — in each other swallowed up and lost — 
Their bolts miscarry, while the winds wheel round 
Aud dash them both in torrents to the ground : 
So rush the warriors of the human race, 
With shock to jar a nation from its place! 
Weary at length of coping thus with Death, 
The fight suspends — the warrior draws his breath ; 
And Truce — advancing — bids the tumult cease, 
And countless hearts beat high in hopes of Peace; 
Aud many a voice is tuned of warrior stained 
To chant "Te Deum" for the battle gained ! 
But hark ! the dread commander calls his bands, 
And through the trump proclaims his dread commands: 
" Advance ye braves ! Let every freeman strike ! 
Advance gallants, with saber, gun and pike ! 
Our cause on record shows who 's in the right; 
A glorious victory soon shall end the fight ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 15 

Behold the amazement in the opposing powers! 

Stand firm amid the War-cloud as it lowers ! 

Some o our hearts will doubtless cease to beat 

Ere the opposing legions call retreat ; 

Yet be it so! His be the noblest bed 

Who sinks entombed the deepest 'mid the dead ! 

With zeal renewed now charge the fiendish foe ; 

Shout ' Victory !' Now let the bugle blow ! 

Wave high your arms with all your valiant might ! 

The charge ! The charge ! Renew the dreadful fight !" 

Meanwhile on t'other side — with equal noise — 

Commanders urge the fray amid the pause ; 

Then all stand waiting for the dread alarms, 

Til', martial music sounds the shock of arms! 

Then loudly swells the wild, tumultuous roftr, 

In to*es unheard around that dell before : 

The seated hills are trembling with the sound ; 

Infernal thunders fling their bolts around ; 

And belching engines fill with living flame 

Th« glen from which the warrior plucks ? his fame ! 

VI. 
O righteous Heaven! arm — arm Thy power to save, 
When Man thus trembles o'er one common grave! 
No arm but Thine can bring the timely a-id. 
While lives a brave to flash the gleaming blade;, 
O righteous Heaven ! bid storms of turaalt cease, 
And plaut instead Thy sacred banner Peafce I 
T is Thine in war or peace- -'t 's Thine aloiid— 
To scorn Man's power and to assert Thine own; 
Then deign for once to plant Thy foot sublime 
On War's dread engines and erase the crime ! 

VII. 

As, when the Storm-wind bids the ocean roar, 

The frightened seaman — drifting toward the shore — 

Exerts- his utmost skill but all in vain, 

And sinks entombed deep in the watery main : 

E'en so the sons of Peace — oppressed by War — 

Refuse the sword and seeking climes afar, 

In distant lands meet tragic death alone, 

Or fall at home — unhonored and unknown ! 

Enthroned on War, where'er the legions roll, 

They bring both land and sea to their control ; 



16 THE MOUNTAIN ^BARD. 

O'erthrow proud States regardless of their worth ; 
Drive science — morals— virtue from the earth — . 
And with demeanor grim — ferocious — fell — 
Hurl myriads tremhliug headlong dowu to' Hell I 
Nor is this fiendish game of modern birth j 
T is ancient almost as the trodden earth ! 
What Cain began — through zeal or malice wrought- 
Mankiud have followed up, and thus have brought 
Destruction— pillage — slaughter — tears and gore- 
To every age — and frightened every shore! . 
Aud thousands — are they' shattered by the moon? 
Desire no higher inscription — kinglier boon — 
Than warlike titles on their worthless names — 
The signs of pillage, slaughter, tears and flames I 



VIII. 
To War 't is given to rule both Church and State, 
And dub her heroes with the title " Great;" 
But whence their greatness eame 'twere hard to tell ; 
For no true greatness can in Hero dwell 
Who wins his way with sword and spear to fame, 
In hopes to shed some lust<-r on his name, 
Unless it were his great desire to fight — l 
The greatness boasted by the Prince of Night ! 
Yet, strange to say, since first the world began, 
Mankind — at constant enmiiy with Man — 
Have in pursuit of greatness levied wars, 
And plucked its honored trophies — blood and scars — *' 
With all the dignity to mortals known, 
And gloried in their hearts of hardened Uone! 
War is a vice that since the world began, 
Hath dwelt enshrined within the heart of Man 
In both his savage state and civilized, 
And as some priceless jewel hath been prized ! 
O, shame to men who wear the title " Great," 
That War hath been the plague of every State ! 
The Babylonian Empire rose on War ; • 

The Persian marched behind its flaming car ; 
Judea rose to power with trump and sword ! 
And Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome afford 
Examples more of what that game hath done 
That fixes Millions in the power of One. 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 17 

*, 

And where are al! those ancient nations bow? 

When look tneir rise and fall? — and why? — and how? — 

Go ask of War — the arbi tress of Fate, 

The ancient mistress of both Church and State — 

'T is there a record long and dread is found, 

Of ail the miseries Time has brought around : 

Of 'death by famine — pestilence — the spear — 

Fire — water — hope and sorrow — all save fear I 

What then is War? A curse the direst known — 

The game for fools — the wheel of Satan's throne! 

IX. 
And when 't is o'er, and Peace returned to life, 
Bids tumult cease and every form of strife, 
Who wears renown ? Whose name is praised in song? 
Who wears the crown by princes worn so long? 
Ask Cjesar who usurped the power in Rome, 
When Pompey slumbered in his narrow home ! 
Ask Cromwell who dethroned the Norman race, 
And whom he chose to fill their ancient place ! 
If these refuse to tell the crimes they've done, 
Demand of France her First Napoleon ; 
And if he fail the world may rise instead 
And answer through the millions of her dead ! 
H ■ ■ cease we then ; let us survey no more 
T.s hoary registers of War and Gore ; 
H e, pause we,, glancing into future time 
B i id the death of Misery and of Crime — 
T- i iil the time when War's alarms shall cease, 
T ail the dawning of eteraal Peace! 



An Oath on a Sword. 



J^jfOOK'at the Sword — it once was deemed a god ! 
fj!|| And even Peace its fabled virtues sung ; 
The mailed knights in ranked phalanx stood, 

And touched the blade, on gleaming hilt uphung, 
And spoke the truth — spoke in the name ©f Sword ! 

.Such was the god that Chivalry, adored ! 



18 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



To an Old Sword. 



tfn|[tf HY ancient fame is overcast ; 
$all? And thou art falling far and fast 
Toward dark Oblivion of the Past, 
O blood j Sword ! 

Shame to the cause that gave thee fame — - 
To thee, a tyrant yet, the same 
As when began the tyrai t's game, 
O bloody Sword ! 

Thou wert a god in days of yore, 
By whom the knigbts of Chivalry swore, 
For whom gallants their honors bore, 
bloody Sword ! 

Yea, blazing pomp adorned thy blade ; 
And none could tell thou shouldst be made 
A scorn — o'erthrown — reviled — betrayed, . 
O bloody Sword ! 

But thou art proved to be — in sooth — 
A fiend that, wrapped in blood of Youth, 
Strives to impede the course of Truth, 
O bloody Sword! 

Down then with thee and all thy wars ! 
Hail to the overthrow of Mars ! 
Hail patriotism without thy scars,- 
O bloody Sword ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 19 



The Glance Through Time. 



i, 

M STOOD to take one retrospective view 
Back through the rise and fall of mighty States 
A dreadful scene for Thought to wander through, 
Wkere Failure stands a-shrieking in the gates ; 
Place — Power. — and Action in one dread immense 
Lay chained to Ruin hideous and intense! 

II. 
There Darkness spreads her jealous wings around 

And shields. from day the kingdoms of Distress; 
There Superstition levels with the ground 

The spires of Lore, and boasts of her success ; 
And as the course of Time goes rolling by, 
Destruction pilfers all beneath the sky! 

III. 

The. gazing towers — the cities on the hills — 
And every structure built in earlier time 
Fall tottering d >wn ; the wail of Misery fills 
The freighted air and terrorizes Crime ; 
Al d from the seat of earnage flies amain 
The spirit of Liberty in proud disdain. 

IV. 
In times afar arises forth the name 

Of Babylon's monarch throned a king of terror ; 
And after him the Persian grasps at fame, 

And gains his victory through Belshazzar's error ; 
Then thundering on through ages nearer still, 
Comes Alexander conquering at his will ! 

V. 
Four mighty kingdoms next in order stand 

From Alexander's torn with sword and lance ; 
Four blood-stained Dynasties with crimson hand 

Uphold the scepter and the power of Chance ; 



20 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

Then Rome from off the banks of Tiber leaps, 
O'erthrows and piles the Eastern World on heaps I 

VI. 
The wail of Carthage tears the ancient sky, 

And calls in vain to her enraged foes ; 
The Romans o'er their ancient boundary fly 
And hurl the dart 'mid War's enduring throes ; 
Thus rolls the War till finding foes no more, 
They heap with suicide their native shore! 

vii. 

Meanwhile Jerusalem — where the ancient Jew 
In safety dwelt and prospered age on ages — 
By Heathen armies compassed round and through, 
Presents a scene that scorns historic pages; 
The great theocracy of Heaven o'erthrown, 
Jerusalem swims in blood but can't atone! 

VIII. 

Next great Mahomet breaks the massive chain 

That held Arabia to her ancient shore ; 
The Persian, Tartar and the Turk amain 
Cast off their gyves so long endured before ; 
Four evil Spirits in these kingdoms stood, 
And each in turn bedrenched the earth with blood ! 



IX. 

Thesummifc gained at cost of useless pain, 

We now survey earth's greatest, bloodiest war ; 
We see heroic blood poured out as rain 
To hurl or check Napoleon's flaming car ; 
Then turn we from the vision in disgust, 
And hide our mouth astonished in the dust ! 

X. 

Away w th War ! Through ages gone before 

Naught can be found to last but War and Death ; 
State, Church and Dynasty amid the roar 

Fall tattering downward and resign their breath ; 
While dread Disaster wraps the world with flame, 
And shouts in Stentor tones the warrior's name ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARB 21 

XI. 

what a failure it would seem is Man, 
Whose •course we now survey from age to age I 

When in derision he presumed to scorn 
Subiiiner things to vent his eea^eless rage! 
His mind is flooded with Egyptian night; 
He wars and dies — but sees no dawn of light J 

XII. 
This I beheld when I presumed to view 

A glance through Time ; I then beheld the cloud 
Of dark Oblivion fringed with ether blue 

Fall o'er the scene enwrapped as with a shroud ; 
The loftiest towers readied forth their peering head- 
But round their base eternal darkness spread! 

XIII 

And as I stood and gazed. upon the scene 
Of earth in ruin thus outspread before, 

1 seemed as standing on th^ brink between 

Lite, Death and Ruin ; — while amid the roar 
Of Elemental war the powers of Night 
Enclosed around reie far — a hideous sight. 

XIV. 

And as I stood and viewed the Realm "of Pain 

By Night and War o'erthrown and ancient Time, 
I wondered whether these dark powers would deign 
To war with me — these powers so dread sublime — 
A voice from out the ruined wrecks replied. 
" Learn icisdom now, and cast away thy pride !" 




22 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Vision of the World, 



i. 

M STOOD to take one retrospective view 
Back through the mighty regions of the Past ; 
A dreadful scene for Thought to wander through, 

O'erspread with ruins and in darkness cast; 
Forgotten ruins of a thousand States, 
Whose lost career no blazing page relates ; 
Or how they stood beneath the blaze of Day, 
The foes of Truth- — the engines of Decay;, 
How framed the friendly leagues with neighboring States, 
Or proudly stood defiant in the gates : 
■Or this — or that — the very ruins —decayed — 
Speak loudly of the warrior's fiery blade 
That heaped the land — the seat of wildest crime- - 
O'erthrown in tumult round the course of Time. 

II. 

There Desolation holds eternal sway, 

Throned on the ruined pillars of Decay ; 

There dread Disaster hovers o'er the plain, 

The herald of Destruction's awful reign ; 

And Superstition — still untaught to feel- — 

Borne on a thousand years of bigot zeal, 

Pours o'er the scene a flood of useless tears, 

Aud scorns the lessons of a thousand years ; 

While conscious Nature — shuddering — hails her doom, 

The death — the night — the chaos of the tomb ! 

III. 

Years roll on years, — but wot the flight of Time 
Can hurl Disaster from the seat ©f crime: 
Where'er the foot of man hath pressed the sod, 
There- hath the Tyrant swayed the Oppressor's rod ; 
There hath the blood of thousand years been spilt 
That. Innocence- might sacrifice to Guilt ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 23 

What marvel then, if o'er this seat of crime 

Disaster reigns — -the avenging rod of lime? 

What marvel if Destruction rear aloft 

Her tortured visage never seen too oft — 

And o'er tlie scene unwonted visions cast, 

"The scourge of Time — the terror of the Past ? 

Let nations drop the Oppressor's iron rod, 

And sow the seed where former warriors trod ; 

Let Love assume the present throne of Hate — 

And where is proud Disaster's rising State? 

Till then — though Misery groans above the bier — 

And Pity sheds the sympathizing tear — 

While Memory lives each vision — like the last — 

Shall hail Disaster monarch of the Past ! 

The law of Nature — still unchanged and just — - 

Condemns mankind and all his works to dust, 

Yet leaves this consolation still behind, 

That ev'n fh ruins Man may solace find-— 

A solace known to lew, in pondering o'er 

The rise and fall of what appears no more. 

IV. 

Shall Man forever grope his way to find 

O'er ruined chaos — dark and undefined ? 

Shall lessons 'graved in blood upon the page 

Of Time, confuse mankind from age to age? 

Thus hath it been— shall be — since Time began— 

Time's greatest lessons — still unknown to Man — 

In dark confusion — ruin — and decay — 

Have sought repose while agt-s rolled away ! 

Not that the fall of many a tyrant State 

Contains no lessons for the wise and great ; 

The source ©f Truth — in far Oblivion cast — 

Still springs a foun;ain — gleaming through the Past — 

Yet holds itself aloof from Man, because 

He halts before the effect -and nut the cause. 



v. 
The records left upon the blazing page 
Of sad Experience, speaks from age to age- 
A voice almost propketic — doomed at last 
To reach the future ages as the past — 



24 TEE MO I r N TA IN BARD, 

Speaks of the power of universal Cause, 
And bids the nations heed her changeless laws. 
Here then, when Man will ponder o'er the scene 
Of what appears as yet, and what hath been — 
When mortals deign one lingering iook to east 
Back through the mighty, regions of the Past — 
The Present ceases, — firmer ages ?oll 
Around the thinking temple ef the Soul ; 
What once was hidden now is doubly plain, 
And Cause alone asserts eternal reign I 

VI. 

Away with Chance I There never was such god, 

Tin ugh feared wheiever mortals press the sod ; 

Whatever feat is done — a martyr burned — 

A haughty warrior to his land returned — 

The Tree of Knowledge robbed of half its sway, 

Or mortals driven from its shades awa\ — 

No matter what — the burden straight is cast 

On this fell superstition of the Past ; 

Yet not the whole of Adam's race adore 

This senseless Chance— this superstitious lore — 

To some each ruin seems the avenging rod, 

Each traitor crime the work of Mercy's God! 

But who aspires to east one J^ok behind 

To view the produce of immortal Mind — 

To him no hidden hand directs the fate 

That ends the sway of each tyrannic State ; 

Before each ruin still he deigns to pause — 

And from the effect displayed — divines the Cause. 



W af v 



AND PEAC 



||p!)EACE is a fabric built with labor great, 

jf|^ The true foundation of both Church and State 

War is a monster that with gory hands 

Hews down the fabric and o'erwhelms the lands. 



1« 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 25 



The Reign of Peace. 

OW Love may hold his universal reign 

Beside the book — the sea — and o'er the plain ; 
Now Sei^ue steers alok her proud caieer s 
And gains new victories tor each coming year; 
And Justice reigiis in everv terrene court, 
And Truth — returning — hails the blest resort ; 
While o'er the realm of Chaos and of Nh-ht 
Eternal Progress spreads her wings of light, 
And Order rises from the vast Sublime 
And stamps her impress on the sands of Time. 



The Song of Peace. 

■(■F Peace to re-erect a thousand thrones — 
*HHj Peace to establish Intellectual Light — 
Strang Peaee to soothe a thousand victims' groans, 

Sing — Heavenly Muse I — and guide the strains aright! 
The voice of Peace— to say the least — is love; 

The tread of Peace is h^ althful to the laud ; 
The crown of Peace is mercy from above ; 

The rights of Peace ©n eudless ages stand. 
Peace smiles and nations echo to the glance; 

Peace sleeps — and War attempts to strike a blow ! 
Peace speaks — and Truth outshines the sword and lance, 

And threatens Ignorance with overthrow : — 
Thus hath it been — shall be— since Peace began, 
Friend to the world — to Science — and to man ! 



26 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



IPJ^I^T SIEOOILTXX 



The Song of Oblivion, 

II) F dark Oblivion an<] the woes that dwell 
g|j In Lethe's flood — in ruin far o'ereast — 

Sing — horrid Muse I — and let the echoes swell 
In living numbers through the aged Past ! 

Thy voice — Oblivion I — is the voice o? Woe ! 
Thy empire Ruin — and thy throne the tomb! 

Thy woeful echoes fill the Long Ago, 

And pour the vengeance of eternal gloom ! 

Thy curtain falls- — and lo I 'tis horrid Night 
Where stood the blazing enginery oi Day ! 

The waves of Lethe breaking 'gainst the light 
O'erwhelm the Past in terror and decay : — 

Thus hath it been — shall be — from pole to pole- 
Oblivion reigns — the terror of the soh! ! 



Oblivion 
i. 

fPON a high o'erhangiug rock I stood, 
'ii?§§ And cast a stone iuto the floods below me; 
And as it fell, remembered that the sword 
Of Death could in an instant overthrow me ! 
Ev'n as into the billows sunk the stone, 
So sink mankind into Oblivion! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD, 27 

if. 
I5ef'ore a wildly ^burning fire I stood, 

And east a k*af into the flames before mei 
And as it binned, remembered that, the sword 
Of Death could in an instant triumph o'er me! 
Ev'n as the leaflet scorched amid the flames, 
So in Oblivion perish h«raau tames! 

■III. 
Far from the storm's revolving wheel I stood, 

And viewed its mad career with fear and sorrow ; 
And as it raved, remembered that the sword 

Of Death could work for me a strange to-morrow 1 
Ev'n as revolves the whirlwind through the skies, 
So dark Oblivion lolls when Nature dies! 

IV. 
Before a furnace redly-hot I stood, 

And cast an ore into the flames before me ; 
And gazing on, remembered that the sword 

Of Death could gain no greater victory o'er me! 
Ev'n as the ore survives its fiery doom, 
So man survives Oblivion and the tomb! 



The Oblivion of Death, 
i. 

fjgff STOOD awhile to gaze upon the woe 
^jg Wrought by the powers of dark Oblivion ; 
Straight it appeared as floods that overthrow 
Amid their billows the unconscious stone: 
Thfn I remembered the devouring sword 
Of Death whose victories I had long deplored. 

II. 
I gazed awhile and penned the vision down ; 

Straight it appeared as when the maddening flames 
Aspire to scorch a leaflet cast therein ; 
Ev'n so Oblivion swallows human names ! 
Again I gazed and thought upon the sword 
Of Death whose veogeance I could least afford. 



28 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

in. 

This vision too I gazed and thought to pen — 

When ]o I Oblivion, like a cloud of woe, 
On whirlwinds driven athwart the ruined plain 
Of Memory's empire, threatening overthrow I 
I t»azed awhile the scene in ruins poured, <•/ 
And thought of Death — and trembled at his sword I 

IV. 
I saw again, but did not write in full 

To show to others ; — straight the cry arose, 

While swelled my heart in pity for such fool, — 

" Tis infidel ! Oblivion ne'er o'erthrows!" 

Meanwhile the stem Death- Angel with his sword 
Stood bo dly forward to confirm my word. 



The Oblivion of th- Past, 
i. 

j HE brightest Suns will set at last, 
And Night usurp the realm of Day ! 
Where then the memory of the Past? — 
In d'irk Oblivi-.u swept away. 

II. 
The myriad changes Earth hath seen 

Through myriad ages pass unknown ; 
And not a gleam of what hath been 

Disturbs the deep Oblivion. 

III. 

We see the effect — 'tis plain to view — 
But sef k in vain to find the cause ; 

Historic lore we ponder through 
In quest of Nature's hidden laws. 

IV. 

Whate'er we see — whate'er we are — 

Slow Process lormed from things that were ;■ 

But what that Process ? Near and far, 
We seek — obtain— believe— but err ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 29 

v. 

Thus to our doom we stand resigned 

Like myriads earlier ages bore; 
Oblivion hovers o'er mankind, 

Whose memory dwells on Earth no more. 

VI. 
But when I tuned my youthful lyre 

To sing of ''dark Oblivion," 
The jarring crowds let loose their ire, 

And bade the echoes die unknown. 

vri. 

Vain man ! why seek to shun the doom 
That ev'n o'erhangs the pendent Earth ? 

Oblivion Time cannot illume 

O'erhangs all things of mortal birth. 

VIII. 
The universe with fire aflame, 

Still drives ahead the realm of Day ; 
But lo / Death and Oblivion claim 

Their prey — and worlds dissolve away ! 

IX. 

New worlds arise, and old ones die ; 

Thought — mind — and action quit their clay ; 
And dark Oblivion hovers nigh< 

Ti end the memory of their sway ! 

X. 

What then remains upon the cast 

When Life's eventful dream is o'er? 
An echo answers through the Past, 

"We hav^ Oblivion — but no more!" 




30 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



Let Oblivion Rest, 
i. 

j^LTIR not the ashes of Oblivion ; 
JH Lest from her dark sepulchral caves of woe, 
Arise remembrances of days agone, 

Hateful and void. There many an ancient throe 
Invites redress. There Time destroys the foe, 
And smites the leman with his equal rod : 
Then let Oblivion rest beueath the sod. 

II. 

There dwell a thousand fantasies of youth 

O'er which repentant ^ears were poured as rain ; 
There gazed upon, the sad remains of Truth 

Gleam with a spectral light ! The ancient bane 
Of happiness converts all joy to pain - 

And dread — and torment : — how far 't were best 
To lei th^ ashes of Oblivion rest ! 

III. 
When anned, the ashes of Oblivion 

Ascend the skies, and draw the veil of Night 
O'er many a scene where Memory, now o'erthrown, 
Adds double terror to the ruined sight: — 
And what the effect? To cast a gleaming light 
On ruined bate and love ! O then be wise : 
Bid not the ashes of Oblivion rise. 

IV. 

Not ev'n a remnant of Oblivion 

But teems with something hateful to the sight 
Of Memory dim, when once 'tis overthrown, 
And re-instated. Tis the voice of Night 
That bids Oblivion cast a gleaming light 

On man's estate. Yea, Nature's rule is best — 
Bury the Past, and let Oblivion rest. 

V. 
The serpent's curse is to survive on dust ; 
Such fond for man was never wholesome yet ; 



THE MOUNT Alls BARD. 31 

O .lien why seek to chew the hated rust 
0\ old Oblivion ? When he Sun is set 
Of Memory why endeavor to. beget 

A falser light? Ne'er to disturb 'her throne, 
Let man recede from dark Oblivion. 



VI. 

The ebon portals of Oblivion 

Entomb the ruiued wrecks of centuries; 
Her curtains hide the seats of empires known 
To ancient monarchs, when the troubled skies 
Shook with the clash of arras: — Oan sacrifice 
Of toil be recompensed in the dark East, 
Where ma 1 contemns to let Oblivion rest ? 



VII. 

What vast resources spent on ancieut Troy, 

Long overthrown in dark Oblivion, 
\\ here Greek and Trojan can no more annov 
Each other and heap death on every stone, 
Could better be applied! Long overthrown, 
Her very ruins are lost: — L j t Troy attest 
What wisdom bids — and let Oblivion rest. 

var. 

Little we reck of Hector's matchless might, 

Or Helen's vanishmeut, or Troy's o'erthrow, 
Or Ajax or Ulysses whom to fight 
1 he Trojan heroes oft. to field did go ; 
It rather now behooves mankind to know 

Of present States and kings. The present call 
Invites to work— and bids Oblivion fall. 



IX. 

O dread Oblivion ! rest thy mortal veil 
' On whatsoe'er thou hast declared thine own ! 
Thine empire to thyself! Let none assail 
Thy ebon walls! Whatever be o'erthrown, 
Tis vain to seek in dark Oblivion ; — 
Confused sight! Oblivion in unrest! 
Learn wisdom then— and let Oblivion rest! 



32 THE MOUNTAIN BARD, 



The Vision of Oblivion. 

M STOOD upon the rocks of Night — the rocks 
Which overhang the troubled sea of dark 
Oblivion — and the mighty deep gave shocks 

Against the eternal hills ; — and not an ark 
Broke 'gainst the breakers of that vast Sublime 

Whose billows roar in thunder to the skies. 
And overflow the records of old Time 

'Graved on the eternal rocks where ruin lies! 
Before me rolled an ocean wild ami waste, 

The troubled sea of dark Oblivion, — 
The universal center whither haste 

Systems and States, confused and overthrown 
Id ruin ! There Disaster reigns supreme, 

And Darkness like a pendent cloud of woe 
Engenders blackest round the living stream 

Of far historic lore. In overthrow, 
Full many a tower by warrior-monarchs built 

To teach the future where the felon Past 
In battle met, and where the blood was spilt 

Of Innocence — in ruins overcast — 
Reared high above the flood, uplifted far ' 

Though fallen ! Within that vasty reslm of Night 
Stood prehistoric and historic War. 

Confusing records never seen aright 
By mortal eye. Save that a light Divine 

Finds secret way into the gazer's soul 
No light appears! The ocean hath its line, 

The border whence its waves no further roll 
Tumultuous;- — but that dark Lethean flood 

No border knows ! The myriad-rolling yea's 
Reveal 'he horrid truth, though stained with blood, 

That Death, with horror plumed to shake the spheres, 
But spreads the path for dark Obliviou 

With all its horrors. 

On the shore I stood 
Of that tumultuous sea, to gaze upon 

The ruius rising through the angry flood. 
And in the midst of that tumultuous flood 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 33 

Isaiah, like a pyramid of flame — 
• Ezekiel — Daniel — Jeremiah — stood 
For ever set upon the rocks of Fame, 

And shouting Joud, a voice undimmed by year*, 
'Graved on the Sacred Page. 

Ev'n'as the Sun 
His blazing throne above the Atlantic rears 

In central skies — his highest zenith won — 
And sheds his light on Europe and the shore 

Of Afric — evening rays, and on the coast 
Of proud Columbia, far beyond the roar 

Of raging seas and monarchs tempest-tossed — 
The morning rays ! so blazing back and forth, 

The famed prophets with their visions cast 
A flood of light — the light of all the earth — 

That fills alike the future and the Past 
With wonder. Years on ye«rs shall roll along, 

And Dynasties beneath the sword expire, 
And.. all things change ; — and still the sons of Song 

Shall shake the world as with a rod of fire/ 
Theirs is the perpetuity of fame 

Which War can never give, though often sought 
Upon his field. Ev'u so the prophet's name,— 

The name that moulds a world of living thought, 
Blending alike upon the Sacred Page 

The Future and the Past. — But now my song 
Has struck the rocks of Peace : — but why engage 

To thread it further through the mists of wrong 
And right and doubt, in vision from the rocks 

Of Night — the rocks which overhang the sea 
Oblivion — where the mighty deep gives shocks 

Against the eternal hills — eternally? 




M THE MOUNTAIN BARD 



ze»a»:r/t third. 



f 



M M E T 



I. 

(||&UROPE had begun to tremble ; 

JUlf Bonaparte was overthrowing 
Ancient customs, rights and nations. 
And with iron arm was strewing 
Far around his bloody stations 
Ruins of empires fierce and rudely. 
Ireland — long oppressed and sorely — 
Rose to war with her oppressors ; 
Raised the sword and swung it boldly 
That her sons might be possessors 
Of her castles, towers and steeples — 
That her flag might wave in triumph 
O'er her own, her ransomed people. 

II. 
Emmet — Ireland's bravest hero — 
Rode in triumph, clad in glory 
Won on many a field of slaughter 
Dearly bought and fiercely gory ; 
But his triumph soon abated, 
And the cause he had defended 
Perished ; — while his life of valor 
On an English gallows ended. 
Life he spent in bold adventures 
Fraught with danger and commotion ; 
Death he met in all his terror. 
Yet expressed no strange emotion ; 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD, 35 

E'en beneath the cursed halter — 
Patriotism alone inclined him — 
Loud he spoke without a falter 
■Cheering thos^ he left behind him: 
*' One request I leave behind me: 
Whf-u my country takes her station 
With the States of fame and glory, 
An emancipated nation 
Proud to tell her ancient story ; 
When the Saxon's power is smitten ; — 
Then my comrades — not until then — 
Let my epitaph be written 1" 

III. 

Closed his eyes of radiant beauty; 
Ceased hi-* tongue to speak for Freedom ; 
Bowed his soul; — as to his duty 
Hasted England's hangman rudely. 
Moments endlese in duration 
Passed along ; wild consternation 
Seized the throng; in vast commotion — 
Wild and dread — the storms of ocean 
Howled for vengeanee round the nati&n! 
Soon the tragic seene was ended ; 
Dangling 'neath the cursed gibbet, 
'Twixt the Heavens and earth suspended, 
Died an advocate of Freedom ! 
Loud the shrieks of lamentation 
Burst from hearts that would not weary ; 
And the notes of condemnation 
Echoed through the Irish nation 
Joyous lately, henceforth dreary. 
Freedom wept with tears of sorrow ; 
Despotism rejoiced with smiling ; 
Ireland — trembling for the morrow — 
Gave him up. The grave had won him ! 
Ended were "his days of labor 
With the pike, the spear, the saber ; 
And his name forever graven 
On the temple-spires ef Glory 
Had immortalized his nation. 
Now be sought a silent baven 
In the tomb — his future station — 
With the silent clods upon him ! 



36 THE MOUNTAIN BAED. 

IV. 

Long he's lain — and yet is lying — 
In his tomb, an Irish martyr ; 
Still his countrymen are trying 
Vainly to retrieve their station ; 
Still h is name is held unsullied 
By the free of every nation. 
Others' names may lose their luster; 
Others' acts as soon as ended 
Oase to be with glory blended ; 
But whenVer the patriots muster, 
Emmets praise shall be the anthem ; 
Emmet's name shall catch new praises, 
Crown the spires that Freedom raises; 
: , Thus through countless scenes and phase; 
Live forever — Freedom's Glory's — 
Blent with thousand martyr stories ! 



/ 



R N O L D 



I. 

fijfOOK. on him in his fallen state, 
jj§| Rejected, .-corned and cast aside 

By those with whom he fought of late, 

And rode to victory side by side ! 

An outcast from his land ot birth ! 

A vagabond upon the earth ! 

A piteous wreck of youthful fame! , 

The ruins of a cherished name ! 

II. 
What made him thus? Has virtue failed 
To give rewards by merit earned ? 
Not so — at least in his sad case — 
For treachery thus he's scoffed ami spurned ! 
To this he sacrificed his name ! 
To this surrendered all his fame! ■ • 

For this received a bag of gold ! 
His birthright, ere 'twas gained, was sold ! 






THE MOUNTAIN BARD, gf 



Judas Maccabeus.. 

FOR a thousand tongues to ,sing the praise 

Of Maccabeus who in darker days 
Than mediaeval treed the Church of God 
From foul oppression of the Syrian rod — 
From small beginnings paved his way to fame — 
'Mid War's alarms immortalized his name — 
Up reared the State and Church so long oppressed — 
And died with heathen lances in his brear-t ! 
The Fourth Antioclms o'er blown with pride — 
With Jupiter Olympias as his guide — 
O'erran Judea ; slew her sous in fight, 
And re-erected there the powers of Night; 
Ransacked the Temple — braving Power Divine— 
And sprinkled blocd therein and broth of swine I 
These crimes Jehovah from his throne surveyed 
And wrested victory from the Heathen blade; 
And Maccabeus on the change of Fate 
Redeemed the Church — uprcared the fallen State-— 
And clot ed with honor, wisdom and renown, 
Supreme y ruled without the royal crown. 
The proud successes of the rising State 
Stirred up the Heathen to their ancient hate, 
And brutal War o'erran the Glorious Lands; 
Proud Apollonius — Lysias — the bands 
Of ancient Edom — and the Arab train — 
And thousands others fought — but fought in vain ; 
A Power unseen the Hebrew conqueror led 
Who rode triumphant o'er the Heathen dead, 
Restored Jehovah's service long profaned, 
Aud in the midst of wild commotions reigned. 
Thus Maccabeus carved his honored name 
Triumphant on the temple-spires of Fame, 
Where still it shines the noblest of its kind, 
A monumental record undefined. 
Nor was his death less glorious than his life — 
His death that sprung from out the Heathen strife; 
He met the Heathen armies, gave them fight, 
And drove them back through slaughter to the height 



38 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

Of far Azotus where as by mischance 
He met grim Death a-jousting with his lance ! 
Thus ends the most illustrious warrior's life 
That ever figured on the fields of strife ; 
That Judas fell whose proud and daring name 
Shines brightest on the scrolls of ancient Fame. 



At the Grave of Napoleon, 
i. 

|HIS is his grave — tread lightly o'er him ! 
Earth's mightiest scepter once he swayed, 
And bore a name ne'er borne before him ; 
But now he in the dust is laid ! 

II. 
Born in an age of revolutions, 

He soon became inured to war 
Where, marking Fortune's evolutions, 

He proudly placed his royal car. 

III. 
On many a field far-famed and gory 

Where Nations in a twinkling died, 
Inured to fame and wrapped in glory, 

He rode with Victory side by side. 

IV. 
Pride filled his heart with stern ambition 

That mean servility disdained 
And raised him to his high position 

Where as a warrior-prince he reigned. 

V. 
But Fate decreed that St. Helena 

Should be his seat in exile life ; 
He went ; and Death with his subpoena 

Called round and summoned him from strife ! 

VI. 
Proud warriors now may rush to battle 

And fight till blood as rivers runs ; 
But he no more can hear the rattle 

Of swords and helmets, spears and guns ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 39 



Cade's Rebellion, 
i. 

REBELLION raised her Hydra head, 
!|§§ And through the south of England spread 
Her fatal bane, a flaming ire 
To overwhelm the ancient realm 
And strew the world with Wood and fire ; 
And many a warrior proud and brave 
Chose rather death then be a-slave ! 

II. 

The Rebel flag was hoisted high ; 

The shout for battle tore the sky ; 

The warrior decked his ancient plume ; — 

When General Cade picked up his blade 

Resolved to make a gory tomb 
His final harbor — so he spoke — 
Or free his comrades from the yoke. 

III. 

With ponderous arms for bloody strokes 
He marched his troops to Seveneaks 
And put to rout a Royal force ; 
Then raising high the battle cry 
Toward London bent his fatal course ! 
He hoped to gain ere set of sun, 
The Tower, the city and the throne ! 

IV. 

Undaunted marched the Rebel band 
With General Cade who sword in hand 
Lead on, and in an evil hour, 
With his baton smote London Stone 
And cried, "The city's in my power!" 
He fearless seemed of living might, 
And felt as at Ambition's he ght. 

V. 
But when the Royal Guard advanced 
To greet him with the sword and lance, 
Our hero found his' warriors fled ! 



40 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

Then in disguise he shunned surprise 
In hopes to save his traitorous head — 
But all in vain ! He soon was caught, 
And his rebellion came to naught ! 



:o:- 



? 



LtUITEAU. 



I. 
||j| MID the peace of twenty years, 
^§j| Inspired by man's eternal foe, 

'Twas he who mingled blood with tea*"s, 
And struck the pride of nations low ; 

II. 
When lo I the myriad wires aflame 

To earth proclaimed the heinous crime, 
And graved the proud assassin's name 

For ever on the page of Time. 

III. 
And Safety trembled on her throro — 

And Valor for awhile was dead ! 
And Justice calling loud and long, 

Demanded judgment on his head. 

IV. 

Yet Time hath rarely failed to blow 
The trump of doom where crimes abound 

The eternal law works ever (-low, 
Yet in its turn is Justice found. 

■V. 
And thus the stern assassin's name 

Shall " thundering through the a»es go ;" 
But who'll applaud his zealous aim 

When be shall try the strength of tow ? 

VI. 

For Justice hovers o'er his head, 

And shouts his doom, and spurns control : 
" Thou shalt be hanged till thou art dead ! 

And God have mercy on thy soul ! '.' 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 41 



The Crime of Guiteau. 
i. 

j| "STALWART President!" he cried ; 
§|| "I '11 do it for the God !" and shot ; 
The while his victim laughed aside, 
And knew it not. 

II. 
And fifty million people mourn 
The loss of him they love so well ; 
And o'er the festal boards is heard 
The funeral knell. 

III. 

No war had roused men's fiery hearts ; 
A peace of twenty years prevailed ; — 
When with the fury hate imparts, 
The fiend assailed. 

IV. 
Now let. the stricken w®rld retire, 
And put her mourning garments on ; 
The life which ev'n his foes admire 
Will soon be gone ! 

V. 
Bright were his glories to the last ; 
He fell a martyr at his post ; 
His star which set into the Past 
Is not all lost. 

VI. 
But where's the fiend that fired the shot? 
Shall he, like Booth, escape? — Ah no/ 
Policemen seize him on the spot, 
And cry, " Don't go !" 

vii. 

" Be still, my friends!" the assassin cries ; 
"I want to go to jail !" OTime! 
When was such impudence combined 
With such a crime ? 



42 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

VIII. 

O had they dealt Ravaillac's doom, 
Full half his "rime had not been known .' 
His blasphemy deserved no tomb 
Or mercy shown. 

IX. 

Was e'er such infamy outdone? 
The God to bear a Guiteau's crime ! 
So shall his declarations run 
To latest time. 

X. 

And shall the God endure the blame, 
And free the murderer from his crime? 
Ah no ! The felon bears the shame 
To latest time. 

XI. 

His inspiration fails in court ; 
Such barbarisms no longer awe ; 
For Justice cries aloud and short, 
"Avenge the law !" 



? 



RAY. 



gLWEET GRAY! how could thy wife forbear 
||§ To love thee? — At thy sacred tomb 
May builders of the lofty rhyme 

At leisure read their awful doom ? 
Thy verse inspired the heart of Wolfe 

At Quebec gazing o'er the height; 
Yea, world applauded Webster heard 

Thy strains in death and cried, " That's right!'' 
How then could filial love be slack 

To pour upon thy head its balm ? 
Thou sweetest bard of thousand years, 

Who gave o Elegy her palm ! 
Sweet Gray ! thy memory still is clear ; 

Thy strains what mortal can forget ? 
A w rid still </azes on thy bier, 

And mourns that such a sun could set. 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 43 



Th 2 Death of Pizarro. 
1. 

H CONQUEROR clothed with wreaths of ancient fame, 
fgk A traitor stained with villainy and disgrace, 
An heir of fortune and a son of shame, 
Uudaunted stood Pizarro in his place 
When rushing up the stair 
Herrada's baud declare, 
" Long live the king, but let ihe tyrant die !" 
In tones that shake the sky, 
And bring before the mind 
The cruelties refined 
That had disgraced the Spaniard's power 
And ushered in the direful hour 
When vengeance stirs the hearts of men to ire 
To rush o'er pools of blood and beds of fire. 

II. 

In days agone the penalty of death 
Pizarro poured with a relentless hand 
On Peru's inca who resigned his breath 
A strangled martyr to his native land, 

Though as a ransom set 

Before he "paid the debt," 
He filled with gold his spacious prison cell! 

Next great Almagro fell 

A victim to his ire ; 

But now revenge as fire 
Heats up the proud conspirers' hearts 
Who with a zeal that hate imparts 
Rush up the stairway shrieking loud the cry, 
" Long live the king, but let the tyrant die !" 

in. 

Pizarro calls for arms and 'gins to deal 
Untimg strokes at his relentless foes 
Who capapie in armor scorn to feel 
The double dint of his unerring blows ; 

His comrades one by one 

Heave forth the parting groan — 



44 THE MO UNTAIN BARD. 

Yet still he holds his murderers to the fight 
Who glorying in their might 
And sworn to win the day, 
Thrust back and stab their prey 
Full in the throat! then rushing down 
The bloody stairs, proceed to drown 
The clamorous uproar with the horrid crv, 
" Long live the king, but let the tyram die !" 



The Count Pulaski, 
i. 

[HE stars of Freedom from her flag unfurled 
Shone eastward (as Columbian lore relates ;) 
The groaus of Freedom echoed round the world, , 
And lured heroic hearts from distant States ; 
Among the same Pulaski came. 

II. 

Where dangers hovered thickest round the post, 
Where shot and shell disturbed the realm of air, 
His men pure heroes and himself a host, 
By valor led through thickest clouds of war 
Like lightning flew Pulaski's crew. 

III. 
Thus rolled the war through many a fateful day 
And many a clime, till 'mid its clamors loud 
Grim Death arrived to carry off his prey 
From far Savannah where in battle proud 
'Mid storms of shell Pulaski fell ! 

IV. 

Though dead to Earth, his honored name survives, 
Deep 'graven on the registers of Time ; 
And those from whom he tore the Feudal gyves 
Revere his memory. Thus in fame sublime 
Tl ■"* valor gives Pulaski lives! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARB. 45 



The Crime of Booth. 



r. 

4 IG semper tyraunisl" he cried; 
" Virginia is avenged!" and fled 
Through the wild crowds that stood beside 
The murdered dead, 

ir. 

Not siuce the dark and barbarous days 
Of old had Villainy performed 
A bloodier deed ;— with wrath ablaze ' 
The plot he formed. 

III. 
The great Rebell on in the States 
Was o'er ; the Cannon's roar was dead ; 
And Peace stood smiling in the gates 
Where Valor bled; — 

IV. 

When lo ! the Assassin arms in hand 
Springs to the box that Lincoln filled, 
And starts the echo through the laud, 
" The sage is killed !"' 

v. 
To make defense was now too late ; 
The murderer took his aim and shot ; 
And Lincoln yielding to his fate 
Fell on the spot ! 

VI. 
The murderer then with nimble speed 
Leaped from the box that fatal night, 
And crying, " Virginia is avenged !' - 
Made good his flight. 



46 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



Y 



AFAYETTE IN PRISON. 



I. 

II ARK i9 ray dungeon cell— no light — 
tg No rest — no hope again to roam 
Tjhe paths of youth— no friend but Night I 
Is this my doom ? 

ir. 
Freedom I why art thou so lost 
To power — to honor — and to fame ? 
Has man not paid the dreadful cost 
With tears and shame? 

III. 
Alone I sit in deepest Night — 
Tyrannic Night that dims the soul ! 
What can a tyrant breed but Night? 
Is this my goal ? 

IV. 
Olmutz! thou dread and withering name I 
Immortal infamy — infernal Night — 
Barbaric hate — eternal shame — 
Be thy delight! 



f- 



.SHINGTON. 
A FRAGMENT OF THE AUTHOR'S FIRST POEM. 



JJ[E carved his name 

§§| On the temple ®f Fame 

By living true ; 

May we not like him 

Though our chance looks dim 

Carve one there too ? 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 47 



Death of Louis XVJ. 
1. 

^|^HE gazing crowds tumultuous stood ; 
<l^sg£ The scaffold felt unusual weight ; 
The Sixteenth Louis with his bloi-d 
Stood forth a sacrifice of State I 



ir. 
The charge to beat the drums was giveo ; 

Loud cried the priest amid the roar, 
" So ' of Saint Louis, ascend to Heaven V 

And soon the tragic scene was o'er. 

III. 
The quick descending guillotine 

Asunder cut the mortal thread ; 
And Louis Capet — France's king — 

No longer wore his royal head I 



Mahomet. 

tHALL stern Mahomet pass unsung ? — A thousand years 
of blood 
Point out to future ages where the prophet-monarch stood ; 
A soldier on the field of Mars, a monarch on the throne — 
What marvel it his statutes live, engraved as on a stone? 
A priest beside the altar-place, a prophet in the cave — 
What marvel if his worship turn the freeman into slave? 
A vasty wheel he set in motion reaching to the skies, 
Then fell asleep forever — but his great examples rise ; 
A thousand years this whirling wheel of empire set to work 
To aid the Asiatic hordes — the Saracen and Turk ; 
While roared the war on every hill where ancient Freedom 

stood, 
And banded nations yelled the shouts that filled the world 
with blood ! 



48 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



JPJ^ttT POURTH. 



The Pf^elude, 



i. 

IjlNOE more upon the fields of rhyme 
gll Ye find me in an anxious race, 
Aud spurring toward the true sublime 
My jaded P«-gasus apace. 

11. 
But how my song the public ear 

Will greet, 'tis needless to inquire ; 
For who cau sing from year to year, 

Yet find no foes to mock his lyre ? 

III. 
Yet some will love the strains I know, 

Whose souls, like mine, have racked and torn, 
And like the raven seen by Poe, 

One melancholy burden borne. 

IV. 
To those, and others who will stay 

To hear, I pour my present song; 
The speed that urges won't delay 

While Pegasus can jog along. 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 49 



The Reign of Love. 
• i. 

'2jf STOOD awhile to gaze upou the Past, 
{fig And to recall the scenes beloved of yore; 
And as I gazed upon the vision vast, 

Fond Memory led where Truth had reigned before; 
And as I stood adoring ancient Truth, 
Love throned himself upon the throne of Youth. 

II. 
And when I wandered where the fateful dart 
Of Danger waged a tireless war on Youth, 
Lo ! Love stood forth to shield my trembling heart, 
> And guide me in the path of ancient Truth ; 

Thus Love began to woo my youthful heart 
That yielded soon to his persuasive art. 

III. 

But oh ! what awful change with later years ! 

Love reigued a tyrant on the throne of Youth, 
And drenched his rising State with needless tears, 
And ushered on the doubly-dreaded Truth — 

For Love's proud State cannot withstand the jar 
That his excesses give — but falls afar. 

IV. 

And oh ! what awful state of needless woe ! 

Love fought the battles with unerring might, 
But fled his state in ruinous overthrow, 

When peace returned — and gave it o'er to Night! 

'Mid scenes of sweetness Love still sighed for more, 
And fled at last — to seek a purer shore ? 

V. 

Now fades celestial music on the ear, 
v And Death and Danger fly to scenes afar ; 
And having naught to hcpe and naught to fear, 
Love takes his flight — ev'n like a falling star ! 

Or lik ? a tree when winds have ceased to blow, 
O'erturns itself in ruinous overthrow ! 



50 THE MOUNTAIN BAUD. 



Jhe p 



ESTINY. 



I. 
Hj ARK is my life — no light — no sun— 
Hi My day of usefulness is done ! • 

1 look upon a life misspent, 

And note the joys that came and went, 

And mourn the h-ss of Long Ago ; 

Alas, that love e'er made me so! 

II. 
Once I was happy in my youth, 
And youthful love ; — alas ! the truth — 
The woful truth — was simply this — 
I truly loved, but loved amiss ! 
With less of bliss I'm heir to woe ; 
Alas, that love e'er made rue so ! 

III. 

Could I not wean myself of love ? — 
As well to mount tho skies above, 
And fight the gods upon their seat, 
As fight with Cupid or retreat ; 
Or stand or fall, ours is the blow ; 

Alas, that love e'er made me so ! 

» 

IV. 

Our will we must resign to Fate ; 
For we can never — till too late — 
Discern the storms that wreck the skies ; 
Tis thus with love! The watery eyes 
Grow dim — then love is lost we know; 
Alas, that love e'er made me so! 

V. 
I cannot hate my love, though she 
Delights my wretchedness to see ; 
I know her love at first was true — 
'Tis often thus when love is new — 
But now, 'tis lost with Long Ago ; 
Alas, that love e'er made me so ! - 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 51 

I'd fly away and be at rest ; 
But something hovers in my breast — 
A wicked hop* 1 — 'tis weakness though, 
That prompts the hope J cling unto — - 
A hope that still forbids to go; 
Alas, that love e'er made mc so ! 

vii. 
Could I recall my youth again, 
I'd never herd with hated met), 
But dwell a hermit in some cave, 
And knowing none, no love would crave ; 
But youth — alas — is all aglow ; 
Alas, that love e'er made me so ! 

VIII. 

Ah me ! if Cupid would but deal 
His blow with Fortune's, human weal 
Would create envy in the gods! 
Alas! by more than mortal odds, 
Mine is the deepest love below ; 
Alas, that love e'er made me so ! 



:o:- 



To Jea 



LOUSY. 



j|gETIRE! thou most infernal thought, 
!|!§ With Satan's mischief doubly fraught ! 

$o longer dare surround me ; 
Let all thy Hellish powers depart! 
Thy poisoa take from out my heart, 

So love can shine around me: — 
Without thee Earth were Heaven indeed ; 
Then take thy flight with quickest speed ! 

My Love ! forgive this fiery mood, 
And help to quench this fiend of good ; 
Don't let it tear nay heart from thee, 
And plant a Hell where Heaven should be ! 



5*2 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



To Victoria. 

Y home — which gloweth with solitude; 
9 My life — which knoweth no quietude ; 
My tongue — which soon shall cease to move! 
My heart — the fallen throne of Love; 
My mind — where joys were wont to roll, 
And fill with rapture all my soul — 
All — all as well might cease to be, 
Since driven in despair from thee, 

1 fled I 
O wild despair! All hope is dead, 
And waves of tumult roll instead ! 
My home had always solace given, 
Wbeu by Despair my heart was riven ; 
So homeward all my thoughts inclined, 
As oft as trouble crossed my mind. 
And when the only heart I loved 
Revealed its will, its coldness proved, 
For solace quickly home I flew ; — 
Alas! — mistaken — all untrue! 
To live was death ! but oh, to die ! 
Dark, horrid clouds — I knew not why — 
O'erspread throughout my moral sky ! 
Till then my life no trouble knew, 
And had not still — hadst thou been true ; 
O cursed spot ! How dread the place 
Where Trouble first unveiled his face, 
And from his horrid visage blew 
The word that rived ray heart in two: — 
O deadly word ! Soon as 'twas spoke, 
Despair my aspirations broke 
And life and joy with crushing stroke ' 
My heart, o'erfull with love, was thine, 
And hoped that thine were truly mine ; 
But now it is asunder riven ! 
Hope and Despair have ceaseless striven 
To gain therein the topmost seat ; 
But oh ! love's trampled 'ueath thy feet! 
Desp ir shall be my winding sheet! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. VS 

My mind was full of visions bright 
That at thy bidding took their flight; — 
But now farewell. Thy game is o'er 
Forever and foreverrnore ! 



Restlessness, 
t. 

jlijNE month ? No, hardly three weeks yet, 
f^fl But seems an age twice told and more 
Since last I left her father's door 

And on my journey set! 
To me the same — when dark, when light — 
While I'm so restless day and night! 

II. 

A school- -if school it might be called — 
At Sinking-Ground I teach by day ; 
At night I take my lonely stray 

To\rotible deep in thralled ; 
Sometimes for miles I take my flight 
Because I'm restless day and night I 

III. 
And oh ! what book or poem now 
Can soothe my mind or give it ease 
While strolling lone 'mid rocks and trees, 

I pais time — who knows how ? — 
For nothing now can please my sight, 
I've got so restless day and night ! 

IV. 
I might enlarge but deem it not 
Of interest to the world or me ; 
Suffice to say I hope to be 

One day upon the spot 
Where stands my love with look so bri gbt, 
And then be restless day nor night ! 



54 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



On New Year's Day. 



||LL hail, New year! Farewell, thou Old! 
p| To me the same both Old aud New I 
Your joys — your woes — are manifold ; 
Your joys are only known to few. 

II. 

And Time, with broad and darkening wing. 

Has ushered in another year ; 
And Death, with cold and mortal sting, 

Prepares t he Old one for the bier. 

III. 
Another year its doom has met; 

O'erthrown, it yields to Time at last; 
The Sun that lit the year is set 

Beyond the mountains of the Past. 

IV. 

And when upon the scene I gaze, 

The ruins wrought throughout the year, 

And think upon my earlier days,- 
I tremble — yet I scorn the tear. 

v. 
For why should my once throbbiug heart 

That laughed to scorn the tall of Youth, 
Be broken by Disaster's dart, 

Or melted at the sight of Truth? 

VI. 

Oft have I felt the tyrant stroke 

Of Fate, and deeply mourned the blow ; 

But never yet my spirit, broke, 
Or failed to bear its load of woe. 

VII. \ 

had 1 gazed on what I saw, 

Nor thought to make it all my own, 

1 might have fancied bliss or awe, 

But both had still remained unknown. 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 55 

VIII. 

To gaze had uever broke the spell 

That haugs o'er Love's eternal throne ; — 

But why forbear the truth to tell? 
I touehed — the rapture all was gone ! 

IX. 

Since that all-uameless hour of Fate, 

I live nay natal day to curse ; 
And though Disaster rears his State, 

It cannot make ray torture worse ! 

x. 

Aud yet some solace still I find 

In pondering past and present woe; 
For every sting that haunts the mind 

Portrays its power to stand the blow ! 

XI. 

Then be eaeh season like the last ; 

Though shorn ot every other light, 
Still let me gaze upon the Past, 

And learn to read the book of Night. 

XII. 
And now, while falls the dying Year 

Beneath the scythe of ancient Time, 
I mourn — bui scorn the useless tear* — 

For all it brought — its good, its crime. 

XIII. 
Thus year by year the hopes of Youth 

Still perish with their year of birth ; 
The rising year shall bear the truth 

To many a scene bereft of worth. 

XIV. 

Then bail, New Year! Farewell, thou Old J 

To me the same both Old and New ! 
Your woes are truly manifold ; 

Your joys are only known to few ! 



.56 THE MOUNTAIN BARB. 



At the Close of Day. 
i. 

"m T twilight wheD the dusk of eve 

gH Ccmes stealing slow but sure around, 

I pause to think — who would believe? — 

And fail to note above the ground 

A single blessing not effaced ; 

A single action not misplaced ; 

One pure word either thought or spoken ; 

And then my heart is almost broken ! 

II. 

Then comes a dim remembrance felt 

So ott when on the patient's bed 

I lay almost unconscious and 

My friends gave o'er and thought me dead ; 

A feeling close akin to pain ; 

A feeing fraught with stern disdain ; 

While treacherous Memory only briugs 

A mass confused of broken things! 

III. 
Whate'er I see around me seems — 
Not quite, but nearly so — the same 
As something else that in my dreams 
Of long ago both went and came ; 
Or something nearly like what I 
Have seen before ; — around me lie 
The broken fragments — torn amain — 
Of Love and Hate, and Joy and Pain! 

IV. 

Joy ! thou art a word misplaced ; 

O Pain ! in thee my soul survives ; , 

O Hate ! with horrors thou art graced ; 

O Love ! with thee my spirit strives ! 

Without thy rays of genial light 

Earth's brightest days were deepest nigh ; 

Unless thy sovereigu power control, 

Woe to the most aspiring soul ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 57 

v. 
He that hath never felt thy power, 
At best is but a sluggish beast ; 
Let no such man e'en for an hour 
Be trusted — no, not in the least ! 
His heart is cold as Polar ice ; 
His keenest virtue is a vice ; 
His soul broods in Plutonian night 
And shudders at the thoughts of light ! 

VI. 

But oh ' dread Memory breaks the chain 
Of Love, aud bids my spirit soar 
Back to the timeL most fraught with pain 
Aud paints them brighter than before; 
limes long ago with sorrow fraught, 
By treacherous Memory now are brought 
In borrowed colors to portray 
The distance I have fallen to-day ! 



T 



IMBERLEE, 



I. 

jjtND Timberlee has got a wile, 
|H Ihe present joy of future life! 
Successful in his wooings past 
He brings her to his home at last ; 
And Love is all the law they have, 
And each is still the other's slave! 
O Timberlee ! O Timberlee ! 
If I were you how glad I'd be ! 

II. 
A year has passed : — their joys are dead ! 
Their hours of pleasure all have fled ! 
They gaze each other's face the while — 
Yea gaze — and gaze — but cannot smile ! 
For Love has fled his pearly throne, 
And weeping now can>ot atone! 

O Timberlee ! O Timberlee ! 

If I were you how sad I'd be ! 



58 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



To a Sweet Singef^ 
i. 

i||*V'N as the voice of Nature's Sire 
jlgl That hushed the waves of Galilee, 
Bo sounds upon the heart's deep lyre, 
The music of thy voice to me. 



II. 

So sweet the melody serene 

Floats o'er the spirit's vision wide, 

I seem as borne afar, between 
An angel's voice on either side. 

III. 

And when thou singst of Beulah Land, 
And setst tby flaming eyes on me, 

Save that I may not touch thy hand, 
Love's Paradise were full in thee ! 



IV. 

But oh ! the tear instinctive falls 

When Memory strikes her woful strain, 

And Duty's well-known voice replies — 
" Depart — and ne'er return again !" 

V. 

Thus in the midst of music's charms, 
O'erruling Fate my doom decrees, 

And bars me from thy loving arms — 

Where thou wouldst have me bask at ease ! 



VI. 

And must I heed the stern decree, 
And fly like zenith's falling star? 

" Farewell to Beulah Land and thee !" 
In notes of love resounds afar. 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 59 



.] Ne 5 ee\_ Shall Smile Again.' 
i. 

^HE moon was shining silver-bright 
J Around the calm lagoon ; 
The oars were flashing in the light 

Like Zenith seen at neon : — 
A youth advanced with careless step 

Ado,wn the open glen, 
Sighing anon with baled breath — 
" I ne'er shall smile again !" 

II. 
The noise of laughter on the lake 

Is fraught with radiant joy; 
The faces of the youths partake 

A kind of sweet annoy : — 
But oh ! the lad with folded arms 

Still pushes through the glen, 
Sighing anon with heavy heart — 

" I ne'er shall smile again !" 

III. 

The voice of plighted love is heard 

Upon the lakelet's breast ; 
And lovers tremble at the word 

That fills them with unrest: — 
The while that melancholy youth 

Still wanders o'er the glen, 
Sighing anon the fatal truth — 

"I ne'er shall smile again !" 

IV. 

The voice of love upon the lake 

Is fraught with deep unrest; 
The trembling lass begins to quake 

When first her lips are pressed ! 
The while that boy with bated breath, 

Cursed with the eternal bane, 
Still sighs amid his living death — 

" I ne'er shall smile again !" 



60 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

v. 
The moon is siuking slow to rest 

Beyond tl-ie still lagoon ; 
Aod lovers folded heart to breast 

Account their sorrows done : — 
But oh ! what throbbiugs heave the breast 

Of him who sighs in vain, 
And murmurs still as scorning rest — 

"I ne'er shall smile again /" 



The Lover's Farewell. 
i. 

||IS o'er; — I leave the realm of Bliss! 

Adieu ! ye joys too quickly flown ; 
Adieu ! sweet rest forever gone ; 
Adieu to Love's enamored kiss ! 
I now must fly — to lands unknown ; 
Must dwell amid the throng — alone; 
Must dwell with those who know not bliss ; 
Must fall asleep — without thy kiss ! 

II. 
I flee ; but wheresoe'er I go, 
With treacherous Memory still I'll strive 
Aud in my visions keep alive 
The fond embrace you now bestow ! 
For thee my love shall ever burn ; 
For thee my heart shall beat return ; 
With thee in love perpetual dwell ; 
From thy advises ne'er rebel ! 

III. 

And now farewell ! I will not choke 

The sigh that rises to assure 

Thy trembling heart that love is pure ; 

Love trembles 'neath the parting stroke ! 

E'en in the tear survives relief ; 

The artless tear insures belief; 

Wilt kiss? — thy lips were ne'er more sweet ! 

Adieu ! sweet kisses — till we meet ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. (31 



To My Betrothed. 
i. 

',OST lovely fori® of womankiud- 



liM> Most Heavenly maid of Earth' 
♦Still let me in thy bosom find 
Love, happiuess and worth ; 

U. 
Let still thy love around me shine 

My weary soul to guide; 
Permit me still to call thee mine — 

My loved — my future bride! 

III. 

Though foes may still my soul distress 
And strive my love to shake, 

Yet if they hope to have success 
They labor through mistake. 

IV. 
If still thy love around me shines 

To calm Life's troubled roar, 
Give quick auew thy tokening signs. 

And up my soul shall soar! 

v. 
But sliould thy love grow false to me 

My heart — no more my own — 
In dark despair and gloom shall be 

Forevermore alone! 

VI. 

II Love with rays of power divinn 
Hath warmed thy tender heart, 

Hath blent thy heart and soul with mine 
And bid all else depart — 

VII. 

Doubt not that I sincere will prove ; 

For all the world can see 
That all my happiuess and love 

Are jointly shared with thee! 



62 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

VIII. 
Tis love for thee that shields my soul 

From trouble's chilling Wight; 
And when I else would feel alone 

Thy love sets all aright. 

IX. 

And many other works of Love 
I might present to view, 

But for the present I defer, 
Since what I've said will do ! 



-:o: 



The Curs .2 of Fate. 
. i. 

(1 SAW thee once, and thou didst steal 
g> My heart- — at least you thought 'twas mine- 
Sweet rogue ! my soul shall ever feel 
Its deepest raptures at thy shrine : 
I love thee ? Yea, 'twere hard to tell 
How long I've loved thee and how well — 
But Fate allured to distant land, 
And bade me never touch thy hand ! 



II. 

O mystery of remorseless Fate ! 

Must I for ever mourn my lot ? 

Or shall I in some future state 

Find my forbidden love forgot? 

Thou hast my heart — but what's it worth ? 

My hand was barred from thee at birth ; 

The curse of Fate is ours for ever, 

And I shall see thy face — ah — never ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 63 



The Autogi\aph. 
i. 

\Y life a raystie river is 
j Whose course not ev'n its wavelets know ; 
All scenes of happiness and bliss 
To me are ever haunts of woe. 



II, 

And now, though dazzling Beauty smiles, 
And Love, from his eternal throne, 

Beckons to me through radiant eyes, 
Still must my heart beat still alone. 



III. 
For I can ne'er thy charms survey, 

Unawed by Youth's mistakes and Time's; 
And yet the truth will shine one day, 

And thou wilt slander me with crimes ! 



IV. 

But why should I thus burden Youth 
With inward sorrows fit for Age? 

Or write through mysteries a truth 
To whelm thy softer heart with rage? 

v. 

Yet peace to thee ! The vanished Past 
To dark Oblivion's pit consign : 

The seal is set — the die is cast — 

I know my* fate — thou know'st not thine. 

VI. 

And I must fly to lands afar, 

Where Duty's voice calls loud to me ; 
The gate is standing now ajar, 

But I must not approach to thee! 



64 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Declaration. 

jfjflj* HOUGH love-waves o'er my nature roll 
l^Mk And fill with rapture all my soul, 
It ne'er hath been my lot to see 
Her more devoutly loved by me 
Thau thou hast be^n and still shalt be I 
Therefore my humble heart shall be 
An ottering of Love to thee I 
Our long acquaintance speaketh well 
Of friendsh p that caused some to tell 
That I with thee iu love had fell; 
But still when speaking to thy face, 
My pulse would run perpetual race — 
Despair would veil my timid face — 
My heart would tremble in its place — 
My tongue -it too would cease to move 
Whene'er I tried to speak of love I 
"I'll talk of other things to-day, 
And on to-morrow I will say 
The words I've tried so much !" 
My resolution many a time ; 
It seems to tell it is a '•rime ! 
Away— away with such ! 
I'd talk our whele acquaintance o'er, 
And try to speak of Love once more, 
To say a word it 'twere but one ; 
But silly tongue — it wouldn't run ! 
But now I've thrown my fears away ! 
Yet how I cannot tell ; 
Enabled now am I to say : 
"My Dear ! I !ove thee well ; 
I love thee dearly, aud to-night 
My love is pure as snow is white !" 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 6q 



T 



O AN pARLY -TRIEND 



^WEET girl ! Though I may never see 
jjp The face that smiled so oft on me, 
When in the happy days of youth, 
We loved — but dared not own the truth — 
Still shall my heart, at thought of thee, 
Beat high — and struggle to be free ! 



II. 

Through many a land 'tis mine to stray, 
And curse my lot from day to day, 
And seek for happiness in vain, 
Since youth cannot return agar 1 ; — 
Yet when I think of love and thee, 
My heart still struggles to be free ! 



III. 

But when thou hear'st that I have failed 
To stem the tempests that assailed, 
Let not those eyes be dimmed with tears 
That sparkled so in earlier years ; 
Su^h tears — when shed by love and thee — 
Would break my heart or make it free ■! 



IV. 

Is this our doom ? — and yet I would 
Not on thy tender heart intrude ; 
And uow farewell ' !No earthly joy 
Hath yet been found without alloy; 
My heart— once beating loud for thee- 
Must beat in vain — no longer free ! 



m THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Powei^ of Love. 



MASKED a sage with whom I met, 
'•Your views of Love?" 
His answer clings to memory yet : 

II. 
" A greater boon hath ne'er been given 

To man than Love, 
By Him who sits enthroned in Heaven. 

III. 
" When Sorrow's darts fly thickest round, 

The shield of Love ' 
A sure defense is always found. 

IV. 

"No burden e'er too heavy seems 

When rays of Love 
From Love's own dazzling temple gleam. 

v. 
" The light and power and guide of Life 

Are found in Leve 
The conqueror of every strife. 

VI. 
" Omnia vincit amor ! All 
Succumb t® Love 
The conqueror of both great and small. 

VII. 
"Were I condemned to live on Earth 

Untaught by Love 
I could but curse my hopeless birth." 

VIII. 
I turnerl ard said : " My friend, 'tis true ; 

T <• power of Love 
I've felt i id deep as you." 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 67 



Jo J 



IME. 



I. 

%L LAS is man ! why dost thou overthrow 
|H Our happiness ere we begin to know 
Its worth and how to thwart thy mortal blow ? 
O tyrant lime ! 

II. 
Some happiuess for all is yet in store ; 
And yet 'tis useless — thou art at the door 
lo wield thy rod as in the days of yore, 
O tyrant Time! 

III. 
'Tis thus that thou hast broken my poor heart 
80 joyous once ! And canst thou not impart 
Some blessing save thy all-devouring dart? 
O tyrant Time ! 

IV. 
Our sweete.t happiness is love of Truth 
And sweetest Purity ; — that thou in sooth 
Dost sc^rn to leave at overthrow of Youth, 
O tyrant Time ! 

v. 
And oh ! 'tis mine to weep in sorrow sore 
That thou hast robbed me thus, and to deplore 
Thy needless tyranny forever more, 
O tyrant Time ! 



Jo JA 



IRIAM. 




HEN other cares my mind employ 
And strive my thoughts from thee to wrest, 
M; heart within shall leap for joy 
At thought of her who loves me best ; 
And feel full blest in being owned 
By Love within thy breast enthroned ! 



68 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



y 



OVE. 



I. 

MN every ruan by Nature bred 
Exist the principles of love ; 
And yet how oft 'tis falsely said 

That Love is flown to realms above ! 



II. 
Love has not fled the earth as yet, 

Though hard beset by sweating Lust ; 
Tis vain to think the sun is set 

Because a chmd obscures nis trust. 



III. 

Fur round sweet Beauty's dazzling throne 
Of purest chastity and truth. 

Love holds his revels all alone, 
And wallows in the lap of Youth. 

IV. 

Twere better far to love in vain, 
Than let the spark of love expire ! 

Once dead, it ne'er revives again, 

But smothered most doth most aspire. 

V. 
The love of music and the love 

Of woman be my spirit's food, 
Or moonlight stealing through the grove, 

Bv wicked woodsman unsubdued. 



VI. 
But let his soul be racked with pun 

Who strives the source of love to move, 
Or cries unto his fellow man, 

" Scorn to the offices of Love!" 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. (39 



The Loyer's Retuf^n. 
i. 

jj SWEETEST joys to mortals known ! 

§•§; To meet with whom we love and not 
To find one par ling vision gone, 

The trembling, farewell look forgot! 
Days into seconds crowd, and all 
The visions of pure youth recall ; 
And Memory — traitorous still forsooth — 
Hides faults, e'en at the expense of truth! 

II. 
Swejt Love ! 'tis well for thee I live ; 

I could not live untaught by thee! 
Here all I am and have I give, 

An humble offering still for me ! 
With thee my heart shall ever beat ; 
From thee my spirit ne'er retreat ; 
To thee my soul for aye be given ; 
From thee my service ne'er be driven ! 



To My Abssnt Dove, 
i. 

|HE last three months appear to me 
As but one summer day ; 
A day's an hour when I'm with thee — 
A month when I'm away ! 

II. 
When thou receivest this to-morrow 

Peruse— -reflect— aud love; 
Remember one whose only sorrow 

Is for his absent Dove! 



70 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



Absence. 



[IS sweet on Memory's page to read 
Of times that had no sweetness when 
They flitted by with unknown speed 
And joined the Fathomless again ; 
When at the study table met 
By Love's own dazzling form I sat, 
But felt unconscious of the light 
That banished all the powers of Night! 

II. 
'Twas meet that I thus read the words 
On record left by those who trod 
The Earth in earlier ages and 
Returned to life beneath the sod ; 
I learned thereby the powers of mind, 
The strongest of the strongest kind ; 
I learned thereby the dreadful truth, 
That Joy no partner is of Youth ! 

III. 
But now far in the distance flung 
I seek in vain life from the dead ; — 
The harp beside me lies unstrung ; 
The book beside me lies unread ; 
Where'er the wanderer's path I roam, 
Loom up remembrances of home, 
And absence pours Plutonian night 
Around the stream and source of light! 




THE M UN TA IN BARD. 7 1 



On the Cliff. 



1. 

||HE kiss of love — the love sick soul's delight — 
J§Hj? Who would exchange it for the wealth of gold? 
Who so degenerate as to barter love 
For royalty — as in the days of old? 

II. 

Blind ignoramus 3 What else shall I say? 

Devil! — I'll say it though I fall thereby! 
Fettered with night so near the source of day — 

What villain doubts that he deserves to die? 

III. 

And yet the woes of lovers are Unknown, 
Save to the few experience calls by name — 

Or what eternal horrors seize upon 

The heart that loves ere it attains its aim. 

IV. 
All have I felt; — and in its turn have felt 

What 'tis to love where fortune never shone ! 
And therefore am I weary now and sad — 

For love is lost — and I am left alone! 

v. 
O days of youth ! I little understood 

The weal ye offered when upon the shore 
Of Time's dread ocean I undaunted stood, 

And gazed — and pondered — shall I ponder more ? 

VI. 

What I would recollect is soon forgot ; 

What I would fain forget survives o'erthrow ; 
What most I dreaded is befallen my lot — 

And all my happiness is drowned in woe ! 

VII. 

With less of youth I gained a woman's smile ; 

With loss of peace I stand the crags above ! 
In face of Death I stand to gaze awhile 

The universal loss- of life and love ! 



72 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

VIII. 

And ye who in the rugged vale below — 

A thousand feet below — my bones shall find, 

Curse not the suicide until ye know 

The horrid flame that, bade him shun mankind ! 

IX. 
Is love a crime ? — 'tis all the crime I've done : — 

But death hath terrors worse 'ban lover.*' shocks! 
Farewell ye sons of men ! — and I have gone 

To be a brother to the insensible rocks ! 



Lines to Miriam. 



ON PRESENTING HER THE PICTURE OP A CROSS WITH A RIN« 
FASTENED THEREON. 

.OU see the cross? How firm it is ! 
How sure the ring around it clings ! 
'Twill there remain when both are old — 
Through damp and dry, through heat and cold — 
For't can't be loosed (as I am told ;) 
So is my love to thee ! 
My love encircles round thee still, 
Encircles now and always will ! 
G then why not love me? 
When hands of thine are placed in mine, 
Thy face like sun beams oVr me shines ; 
Thy countenance glad tidings brings. 
My troubles all are changed to bliss, 
When — sweetest ' f all — thy face I kiss ! 



THE MO TINT A IN BA RD. 73 



The Farewell. 



ftjS WHAT a world of paiu and woe, 
fUg Whose fatal poison none can tell, 
Swells on the aching heart below 

And centers in the word " Farewell !" 



II. 
Joy hath no strain that sounds complete, 

Such sorrows round its closing dwell ; 
The joy of friends who gladly meet 

Dims at the hated word " Farewell!" 



III. 
Full many a scene we wholly hate 

Grows sweet at last and all is well ; 
And then we mourn the blasts of Fate 

And sigh to speak the word " Farewell !" 

IV. 
But why this heavy heart should mourn 

For aught on earth 'twere hard to tell; 
And yet I would not thus be borne 

From scenes that ask a long " Farewell !" 



v. 

Oft have I beard the voice of Truth, 
And felt my soul with rapture swell ; 

But now to scenes like those of youth 
Must bid a longing last " Farewell !'' 

VI. 

O world of pain ! O world of woe ! 

How deep thy poison none can tell ; 
The startling woes of Long Ago 

All "enter in the word " Farewell !" 



74 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Epitaph, 



jjl[IS Yonth did fail amid its prime 
|§| When stern Unrest upreared his throne ; 
And raving on the tyrant Time, 

He took his leave for parts unknown. 



II. 



Through this dark gate he coolly passed 
Unto a far and trackless realm, 

Still gazing fondly on the Past 

While Death sat sternly at the helm. 



III. 



Without consent born to the earth, 
He took his leave e'en as he came ; 

Small profit gained he by his birth ; 
Twas but a parent's gift — a name * 




THE MO UNTAIN BARD. 75 



ZF-A.IR/T FIFTH. 



The A 



THEIST. 



I. 

tlEN o'er the Earth the tempest rolls 
And fills with horror stoutest souls ; 
When from the Heavens the bolts descend 
That jar the Earth from end to end ; — 
What man that walks the Terrene sod 
Shall murmur forth, " There is no God!" ' 

II. 

When on the Earth in calmer days 
The Sun pours forth his genial rays ; 
When nightly o'er the calm lagoon 
Majestic floats the silent moon ; — 
What worm in shape of mortal clod 
Shall dare to 6ay, " There is no God !'" 

III. 

When trembling at Jehovah's ire, 

The Earth shall wrap herself in flre ; 

When through the vast expanse of Time 

The Archangel's trump shall sound sublime ;- 

What awful doom for hicn that trod 

The Earth and cried, "There is no God!" 



76 THE MOUNTAIN BAUD. 



THE ffEREAFTEE\. 

I. 
HfelPE is an isle betwixt the seas 
f*!| Of two unknown Eternities — 
An isle where hangs the sword of Death 
Upon the workings of a breath ! 

II. 
'Tie o'er ; and Love now tears the bier ! 
And Pity sheds the burning tear ! 
And human (railty cries aloud 
Till echoed wails surround the shroud ! 

III. 
Philosophy may vainly try 
To soothe the grief for those who die ;. 
The passage still demands a tear 
For all who press the silent bier ! 

IV. 
Life rises high to loar and burst, 
And turn to what it was at first ! 
But who shall pierce the mystic pall 
To read the future doom of all ? 

v. 

And yet we know the final doom 
Is far bey nd the boasting tomb ; 
There all shall fall, and all shall own 
The presence of the "great Unknown !" 

VI. 
So live that when thy days are o'er, 
And thou must glow with life no more, 
A pangless conscience may illume 
The dark recesses of the tomb ! 

VII. 

For time is rolling on — and on — 
And longest lives will soon be gone! 
And little reck the present strife 
Whom bright Hereafter calls to life ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



T HE T 



HREATENERS. 



I. 

jHE proudest knigiit 
|j|*f£ In armor bright 
That ever met his foes in fight, 
Could not withstand 
The ghastly band 
That threatens this illustrious land. 

With outstretched hands 
On holiest lands 
Proud Atheism the tyrant stands; 
And like a swell 

x rOC66QS to t£ 1 1 

His creed i " No God ! No Heaven ! No Hell !" 

in. 

Pale Skepticism, 

Dire Romanism, 
The infidel " Freethinkeeism," 

And myriads more 

Stand at the door 
Our foes as iu the days of yore. 

IV. 

These we must meet 

Or call retreat 
Thereby insuring foul defeat ; 

For in the blaze 

Of modern days 
The astonished world the struggle weighs. 

v. 

Then Christians, rise ! 

Wait no surprise, 
For valor unexerted dies ; 

Meet arms in hand 

The ghastly band 
That threatens this illustrious land ! 



78 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Impious Farmers. 
i. 

§1[N April when the showers of Spring 
jjg Were frequent, boisterous and chill, 

The neighboring farmers thought to bring 
Contempt upon the Almighty's will ; 

And argued long — but argued vain — 

For more of sun and less of rain ! 

II. 
Then ceased the rains, and for awhile 

All were delighted. Herb and tree 
Shook in the Sun's all-cheering smile; 

The earth was verdure ; all was glee ! 
And neighbors when they met would say — 
" Has any seen a prettier day ?" 

III. 
In June some wished a thunder-shower ; 

Others desired a silent rain ; 
While all put forth their utmost power 

To dress their fields — but all in vain ! 
The parched air was so deadly-het 
The earth was like a seething pot! 

IV. 
The drought in July still prevailed ; 

Not e'en a cloud adorned the sky ! 
Some prayed, some cursed, and some bewailed 

Their situation ; " We shall die 
Of famine, pestilence and thirst !" 
Cried thousands in that land accursed. 

V. 
In August blazed the parching Sun ; 

The solid earth to ashes turned ; 
The race of life seemed well-nigh run 1 

The fires prevailed ; the fields were burned ; 
And in despair men rashly cried, 
And thus the living God defied : 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 79 

VI. 

*' Send down the rain ! No righteous God 

Could punish suffering mortals thus! 
Twere better far beneath the sod, 

Than to endure this hateful curse! 
There is no God or he would deign 
To send his suffering creatures rain /" 

vir. 
And when the equinoctial winds 

Athwart the parched horizon blew, 
Cloud after cloud piled high in air ; 

The soaring bird toward Heaven upflew ; 
And burst the tempest in its might, 
And plunged the land ill deepest Night' 

VIII. 
Tumultuous were the clouds around; 

Tempestuous were the winds above ; 
Harsh thunders shook the surging ground, 

And lightnings with each other strove ; 
And earth it seemed had gone to wrack, 
Or rolled from off her ancient track ! 



IX. 

A river swelled from every rill 

And heaved the crested waves in air; 

Revolved the sterm ! from every hill 
A torrent burst; al! was despair; 

And men with shattering voices cried, 

** Save, Lord, from tempest, thunders, tide !" 



X. 
Then fled the clouds on winds reversed ; 

The thunders ceased ; the brightening Sun 
Relit the day and quenched his thirst 

From useless floods whose charge was done '. 
From this let hasty grumblers learn 
To take the weather in its turn. 



80 THE MOUNTAIN BARD, 



The Papal Intef^dict. 

iREMBLE ye monarchs of a stricken world 
O'er whose doraain the interdict is hurled I 
Fling back the royalties of days agone ; 
Fall in the dust and curse tho fatal throne ; 
For Papal vengeance wraps the world with fire, 
And 'mid the wreck of nations heaves the pyre I 
No more the farmer drives his teams afield ; 
The farms no naore their fruitful harvest yield ; 
No more the housewife plies her evening care ; 
And friends no more their mutual love declare ; 
All Nature holds a universal gloom 
While from the Eternal City rolls her doom : 
" Ye proud opposers of the Church's power, 
Ye who have ushered in this direful hour, 
Howl y^ and mourn ! Repent ye of your crimes! 
Attempt no more to change the laws and times ; 
Prostrate yourselves with faces toward the ground, 
And beg for mercy while it may be found ! 
And ye on whom sedition hath no power, 
Bring down the bell from the cathedral's tower; 
In shallow ditches bury all your dead ! 
The open heath declare your favorite bed ; 
In church-yards celebrate the nuptial ties ; 
Lay bare your heads beneath the cloudless skies ; 
In mournful cadence weep the direful gloom ; 
And ponder deep the horrors of the tomb, 
Where, should ye fall beneath the Church's ire, 
No hope remains but groans and penal fire!" 



The Scp^ptuf^es. 

fflOW strikingly Thy word portrays 
§§| The present state, the final doom 
Of all, when far in future days 
Beyond the tomb ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. fcj 



The Ship of Youth. 



[OVV let the youths of every land, 
Who on the rocks of Danger stand, 
Attend and listen to my song, 
And learn to shuu the giant Wrong 
Which spreads around so many a lure 
To make his t.wn successes sure, 
And hurries to a nameless grave 
The sous or freedom and the slave. 
And yet 'tis vain to sing the song 
Of danger to the gaily throng 
Who lift aloft the spark ing bowl 
And drink this riot of the soul! 
Who trust in Virtue's power to save, 
And scorn the drunkard's early grave, 
Yet like the progress of the Sun, 
Whose course is slowly — surely — run, 
Still pitch on each successive night 
Their tent, and rear the beacon-light 
A whole day's journey, nearer Doom, 
Nor once perceive the darkening gloom ! 
Yet will I sing the song of Life 
That sailed so proud the seas of strife, 
Till lured from off the charted line 
And run to death by love of Wine! 
And if the youth who hopes to be 
A sailor on that living sea, 
Will scorn this warning of the Past 
And meet his folly's doom at last — 
O let him with his parting breath 
Tell whose the crime that brought him death ! 
And this — his doom — shall aid my s<mg 
That struggles with this giant Wrong 
And warns the rising youth in time 
To shun this poison bowl of Crime' 

II. 
The sky was clear as clear could be ; 
And not a wave disturbed the sea ! 
And not a breeze beguiled the woods, 
Or hushed the rushing of the floods! 



82 THE M UNTA IN BARD. 

The bay was like a sea of glass, 

Reflecting from its crystal face 

Each form of mountain-wood and rock 

That reared itself, and seemed to mock 

Imagination's w rldest powers 

And laugh to scorn her magic bovver ! 

And oh ! the prayers that then were said I 

And oh ! the tears that then were shed ! 

When first was launched — so wildly free — 

The ship of Youth upon the sea, 

And all its gallant crew began 

To mingle in the ranks of man! 

With many a promise — made in vain — 

They launch upon the boundless main ; 

The straits of Manhood now are passed. 

And Ocean meets th- gaze at last ! 

So swift the vessel cuts the wavt 

And surges ±rom her liquid grave, 

She walks the flood — a thing of life — 

And dares the elements to strife ' 

The day is o'er; — a wide expanse 

Of sky and ocean meets the glance ; 

And Care is at the helm to jjuide 

The flying bark along the tide ! 

O happy crew ! O happy bark ! 

To sail the sea so rou<_ r h and dark, 

To shun each breaker and the rock 

Before you feel the horrid shock — 

This — this alone should make you feel 

The glow of pride in human weal, 

And prompt each drooping soul to bear 

Unmoved its load of human Care 

And fight.its battles with Despair! 



III. 
Tis night ; — and many a burning soul 
Is drinking riot from the bi-wl ! 
And quoting many an ode to Wine 
From old Anacreon — bard divine/ 
They'd heard Anacreon's praises sung 
In many a land and many a tongue; 
And now ambition to excel 
In drinking long and drinking well, 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD, 83 

Fired up the soul (o sing the songs 
Of ancient bards to ancient Wrongs ! 
Like him, they meant to quaff their wine 
As if to-morrow ne'er should shiue — 
But should to morrow come, why then 
They'd surely quaff their wine again ! 
And thus the crew forgot the bark. 
And left her flying through the dark ! 
The pilot left the wheel to go 
And quaff the wine cup down below, 
And sing the song with wiid delight — 
" I will— I will be mad to-night!" 
Meanwhile up blew the dread Siroc 
And drove the bark athwart a rock — 
Then down she went with bubbling groan, 
And like a pha torn ship was gone! 
The Sun rose o'er the sea of Time, 
But found no bark of Youth and Crime! 
And days and years have rolled away, 
And thousand thousands fell a prey 
To Wine and to the self-same rock — 
Yet many still the danger mock, 
And few will shun the fatal shock ! 



T 



he Crucifixion. 



ItrlE Sun breaks forth in splendor bright; 
Before it vanishes the night! 
Ttie birds resume t.ieii notes of joy ; 
The awakened dead no more annoy ; 
The incarnate Son of Goa is slain, 
That man might free salvation gain ! 
No more I'll wonder when the laws 
Of Nature seem reversed, undone ; 
For man has now performed a crime 
That shook the earth and shamed the Sun ! 
The sacrifice is now complete; 
Salvation now for all who seek ; 
A God hangs lifeless on the tree, 
But death shall rue the victory ! 



84 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Moi\ning Hymn, 
i. 

jHRICE happy lie who hears Thy voice 
_? Bid him at earliest morn rejoice ; 
Tis as the voice of ancient Truth 
To rear the energies of Youth. 



II. 

And Morning pours abroad the light 
Around the falling throne of Night ; 
Ev'n so at Thy commanding roll 
Eternal truths around the soul ! 



III. 
Thy voi( e is as the voice of Life ; 
Thy presence quells a world of strife ; 
Thy name the theme of choral song 
While thousand ages roll along. 

IV. 

For where the power that can withstand 
The Monarch-Spirit now at hpnd? 
Whose smile like an ethereal blaze, 
Whose frown — what mortal dares to gaze? 

V. 
Thou art eteinal on Thy throne, 
To mortal eyes the ''great Unknown ;" 
Yet he who seeks Thy fac^ to know 
May catch the vision ev'n below. 

VI. 

At morn Thy glory rises high ; 
At eve Thy beauty decks the sky ; 
At night Thy curtain shrouds 'the earth, 
And loudly speaks Thy glories forth ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. M 



Is THEE\E A pOD; 



i. 
^HAT Power propels this spacious Earth of ours 
Around its axis? round the blazing Sun ? 
What Hand directs the silent stars that run 
Their daily circle round this world of ours? 

II- 

Who, f'r in the wild abysses, called up Earth ? 
Who, from the depths of darkness, called up light? 
Who, from the wilds of chaos, formed aright 
The atmosphere and spread it round the Earth? 

III. 

Who gave the clouds tiieir height? the sea its bounds ? 
Who gave the Earth her shape? the land its place? 
Who taught the wine's to run perpetual race 
O'er Nature's fields that have no earthly bounds? 

IV. 
Who fixed the laws that formed the planets' orbs? 
Who taught the Heavenly spheroids how to stray 
Through trackless realms that lie athwart their way? 
Who wards collision from the Heavenly orbs? 

V. 

Who gave the grass its color and its form? 
Who taught the flower to rear its head in Spring? 
Who taught the snow-cloud when and where to bring 
Its crystal flakes? who gave those flakes their form? 

VI. 

Who taught the lightnings when to pierce the clouds? 
Who taught the thunders when to shake the Sphere? 
Who formed the rainbow dazzling, curved and clear, 
And fixed its habitation in the clouds? 

VII. 

Who sends to shore the rolling tides"of sea ? 
Who quells the wild and boisterous Ocean-storm 
Which fierce advances — changes every form 
Of cloud and wave — commingles sky and sea ? 



86 THE MOUNTAIN BAhD, 

VIII. 

Who taught the changeful Moon to hide her face 
By monthly turn; , ? Who taught her how to pass 
Through Earth's dark shadow with her cumbrous mas* 
Of earth-like forms, with darkness on her face? 

IX. 

Who quells the earthquake which upheaves the ground 
And overthrows the objects of our pride ? 
Who gives it power through regions far and wide 
Te spread destruction — shake both air and ground? 

X. 

Who brings to naught the works of sinful man 
In every age and clime? Who brings to naught 
Majestic empires? Who to ruins brought 
The Eastern World -the primal home of man? 

XI. 

Who taught Judea's ancient Seers to pe*i 
Accounts of what should in the future be? 
Who taught those ancient men of God to see 
By faith the ripening fruit of voice and pen ? 

XII. 
Could aught accomplish such results but God ? 
Can aught deny that every time and place 
Abounds in further proof? Who in the face 
Of all this light can say " There is no God!" 

(CXI II. 
Does Atheism suppose that Charce could form 
The Earth — the Heavens— and all that in them are? 
Is Chance then not a God more wondrous far 
Than Him we praise — more strange in life and form? 

XIV. 
Does Skepticism propose to live in doubts, 
To see the works yet doubt the Author's power? 
What cause impels at tfiis enlightened hour 
The multitude to sacrifice to doubts? 

XV. 

Why should I further speak? Lives there a man 
On this terrene who views the works around — 
Above — to right — to left — beneath the ground — 
And vet brieves them formed by Chance aud man ? 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 87 

xvr. 
Whence then ihis go 1 like Man ? Might he not ask 
al Whence came the God ye praise, exalt, adore?" 
"Can we not answer that He lived before 
The Heav'ns were formed? then who need further ask? 



Jh: 



e Day is O'ef^ 



|n|f|HE day is oVr, 
$f§i& And Night once more 
Is knocking at my chamber door — 
With welcome voice 
Bids me rejoice 
As in the better days of yore. 

IT. 

Ah, happy days! 

Fond Memory's gaze 
Still pointed toward your vanished blaze, 

Mourns for the light 

Beyond the height 
Where swelled the heart to notes of praise. 

III. 

What now I feel 

I'll not reveal — 
'Tis neither human woe nor weal — 

But crush the thought 

That Time has wrought, 
As if an angel cried — "Conceal!'* 

• IV. 

The day is o'er, 

And Night once more 
Is knocking at my chamber door — 

I hear the voice 

But can't rejoice 
As in the better days of yore ! 



88 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Evening Hymn, 
i- 

,.HEN I Thy glorious works survey — 
J So grand by night — so grand by day — 
What reverential throbbings tear 
My heart, and crave an audience there I 

II. 

The myriad-wheeling spheres that run 
Their circles round Thy dazzling throne 
Hymn to the glories of Thy name, 
And shout Thy praise in loud acclaim. 

HI. 
A universal throne of fire, 
Surrounded by the angelic choir, 
Attends on Thy transcendent state 
Whose glories Time cannot relate. 

IV. 

And 'mid the choir of thousand spheres 
That hymn t'» Thee through countless years, 
May I one tributary strain 
Four on the universal main ? 



V. 
Thou art the primal source of light — 
Spirit that beautifies the night — 
Soul of the universe of love — 
And glory of the worlds above. 

VI. 

And though so for above compare, . 
The heart that seeks Thy face in prayer 
Through countless years ascending' higher 
Shall hymn Thy praise with tongue of fire. 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 89 



The Train Ride. 
i. 

JfjIjET all who ride upon this car 
g!§| Think of their God — nor think in vain ; 
For dangerous as the sword of War 
On such ii night and such a train ! 



ir. 
Yet doubtless when the danger's o'er 

The immortal soul will cease to think — 
Will turn unto its haunts once more, 

When saved from Death's o'ergazing brink. 

III. 
Oh Christ ! that man should be so frail ! 

That flesh and blood should be so cheap I 
That all who ride upon the rail 

Such doubtful harvest have to reap' 

IV. 

One moment Life is blooming high ; 

The next may break the bars of Death ! 
For now to live and now to die 

Hang on the passing of a breatk ! 

V. 
But now 'tis o'er! The wheels are still ! 

Safe — and my heart may beat once more ; 
Turn to the world and drink its fill, 

As often in the days of yore. 

VI. 

Yet should each heart upon this car 
Think of its God — nor think in vain ; 

For dangerous as the sword of War 
On such a night and such a train f 



90 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Universal Scales, 

'PON the universal Sca'es I stood 
Jgs» Tli3t touched the skies, and centered .far below — 
As deep as Hell — far o'er the wasting flood, 

In throned majesty ! The overthrow 
Of nations — creeds — is 'graved upon the face 

Of this ethereal register of Truth, 
In fiery letters Time cannot efface, 

Nor strong Eternity. The voice of Youth — 
Of Age— is wafted o'er the fiery flood, 

For ever 'graved upon the burning page 
Of Trial ! On that fiery Scales I stood, 

Though mortal born, and of a tender age, 
To weigh Jehovah's scriptures. O'er the flood, 

Upflew the scale — the laughingstock of Time — 
And kicked the beam ; — when lo ! before me stood 

Voltaire and Hume — Gibbon with voice sublime — 
Bold Ingersoll and Paine ! Repulse and shame 

Their only recompense? — loud though their laughs, 
Who stand erect upon the rocks of Fame, 

Admired by gazing fools — the walking-staffs 
Of Crime and Error- -still the truthful Word 

Unshaken ! 'Graved upon th^ eternal Page 
The Truth shall stand — through ages still preferred. 

Meanwhile the voice of Wisdom and of Age 
Is wafted o'er the flery flood ! T stood 

And wept for joy upon the magic blow 
On human pride ; — while o'er the wasting flood, 

Jehovah's majesty outspread below 
In living splendor ! Thus I stood and gazed 

The universal Scales that touched the sky, 
And centered far below — where Tophet blazed — 

Far o'er the flood, in throned majesty ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



T 



HE HANATOPSIS. 

r. 

[HE proudest knight of Chivalry, 
The serf of brutal Slavery 
Must share the lot 
Assigned to man in Adam's day ; 
Must mingle with his kindred clay 
And be forgot ! 

II. 

The strongest coats of mail afford 
But slight protection from the sword 

Of sterner Death 
Whose empire is the spacious Earth ; 
Whose subjects, all of mortal birth ; 

Whose swurds, their breath ! 

III. 

The soldier on the foughten field 
With stubborn heart disdains to yield 

His cherished life, 
A sacrifice to Death whose throne 
Upreared on wheels of flesh and bon© 

Adorns the strife. 

IV. 
Yet when the clouds of war have fled, 
With weeping friends around his bed 

And foul disease 
In every vein, he calmly waits 
Till Death in mockery cries, "Too late!" 

And gives him ease! 

v. 
Trees have been known for years to stand 
The rolling storms that whelm the land 

And Nature drown ; 
Yet when no cloud was in the sk} 7 , 
And not a breeze was floating by, 

To tumble down ! 



92 THE MOUNTAIS BARD. 

vr. 

While others of the forest's pride 
With mossy trunks that winds defied 

And graceful form, 
Have trembled in the whirling gust, 
Have overturned and rolled in dust 

Beneath the storm ; 

VII. 

And men have traversed sea and land 
Through dangers hard to understand 

For lame and wealth, 
And when their sun was shining bright. 
Been deeper plunged in darker Night 

In bloom of health ! 

VIII. 

On every breeze that passes by 

Death rides a sovereign throned on high 

And in the storm 
Distinctly are his traces seen, 
For there his wheels he sits between 

In hideous form ! 

IX. 

Where'er the germs of Life are seen, 
The seeds of Death are found between 

Their vital parts ; 
And where Disease is dreaded least. 
Grim Death ordains a roval feast 

And Lite departs! 

X. 

What has the flight of ages taught? 
To what a scene of ruin brought 

The Eastern World ? 
How fares it with the States of Earth, 
E'en those couspicuous most for worth. 

When Death is hurled? 

xr. 
E'en as the whirlwind's rolling car 
Spreads devastation wide and far 

Amid the heath, 
So empires with their flags unfurled 
Are Iron) their ancient centeis hurled 

Bv sterner Death ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 93 

XII. 

iBeek not eternal life on Earth 
Where all took either rise or birth 

Predoomed to die; 
Foi all that have not paid the debt 
Must fill the dreadful summons yet, 

Must fall and lie! 



The M 



USICIAN. 



I. 
3LHOW me the man of music full, 
*§§» Of jollity and smiling ; 
His are my joys — his ease my rest- 
The sullen hours beguiling. 



II. 

Yes, bring him forth — he is my friend- 
No matter what his name is, 

His station, wealth and ancestry; 
To me it all the same is. 



III. 
But bide, oh ! hide from me the face 

Where music ne'er hath risen ; 
With such in view — where'er the place 

To me 'twere but a prison. 



IV. 
Let such alone ; molest them not ; 

Their gloom let still surround them ; 
Let them bewail their bitter lot 

And tighter strap it round them ! 



94 THE MOUNTAIN BAhD. 



The Midnight Hymn. 
i. 

>HY ten) file is the eDdless space 
\ Where burning suns attend the chase; 
And in this temple of the skies 
What clouds of holy incense rise ! 



II. 
Around Th«e all the skies are furled 
In peerless grandeur o'er the world ; 
And rolling stars aspire to own 
The wheels of Thy eternal throne. 

III. 

Far in the long forgotten Past 

Thy Spirit rode throughout the vast, 

And bade the wilds of chaos own 

The star wheel of the Eternal's throne ! 



IV. 

And life and order sprung sublime 
To note the glorious birth of Time ; 
And dark ess fled the realm of Night 
At Thy command, " Let there be light !'' 

V. 
How vain the petty works of man 
Compared to Thy eternal plan ! 
To Thee all Nature's works belong 
That hymn Thy name in choral song. 

VI. 

From everlasting Thou art grand ! 
To everlasting Thou shalt stand ! 
And all who live and all who die 
Shall hail Thee monarch of the sky ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 95 



The Voices of the Night. 
1. 

^ptffELL might the swart Chaldean raise 
jS/lskb Aloft his wondering eyes — 
Ev'n in those dark barbaric days — 

To gaze upon the skies. 
Why ni t? — for Art had never spread 

Her glories o'er the waiting earth ; 
Where'er the gazer turned to tread 

Strong Nature stood, the source of worth ; 
But most by night her glories shine, 
And nearer bring the border-line 
To mortal view, where intertwine 
The living glories here below 

With living glories far above, 
And all with light and life aglow, 

And ali the charms and powers of love. 

II. 

Hark to the voice of Night — 

It falls upon the ear 

In melodies so clear ' 

And he who lists may hear 

The tolling knell of Time's 

Disasters, woes aud crimes. 

The temple of the sky 

Stands forth, a vasty dome 

Upreared and curfaiued high, 
And calls me forth to roam ; 
And every star its place hath found, 
From whence to scatter light around ; 
Hark to the happy, happy sound, 

As Nature's train goes by — 

The voices of the sky! 

III. 

So sweet the enchanting melody — 

What voice could imitate? 
So perfect is the harmouy — 

When known to mortal state? 



96 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

The bloody lessous of the Past 
In one dark reservoir we cast, 

Whene'er we hear aright, 
In universal harmony, 

The voices of the Night. 

IV. 

Light cries aloud, " At work am I f" 
For proot the myriad stars rush by : 
There Darkness cries, " No foe am I ! v 
For proof he seems to kiss the sky : 
There Order cries, "To duty I/" 
For proof behold the harmony : 
There Love still whispers, "Sick am I !" 
Whose heart can not thus testify ? 

V. 

Down with the fcveilasting jar 
Of mortals rushing on to war ! 
Down with the powers of hated Hate ! 
Down with the tyrant, small or great ! 
Down with the gyves — though silver-brigbt- 
That shackle the approach of Light ! 
Let man, as in the days of yore, 

Seek hidden light beneath the stars, 
Until his heart's most inmost core 

. Attests the magic spell, 
And cries aloud, " How well !" 

VI. 

Long had I sought to know the truth ; 

I found it where I least had thought ; 
The woe that gilds the fall of Youth 

Contains the oracle I sought : 
So at the overthrow of Day, 

A thousana lights adorn the skies, 

And pour their light on mortal eyes, 
And banish gloomy thoughts away, 
Which else had held supreme control, 
Ahd terrorized the human soul. 

VII. 

That which is done is done through time ; 

Not gods the law could change ! 
The good is good — the crime is crime — 
Whoever think it strange ; 



THE MOUNTAIN BA&D. 97 

The voice of Love, when heard aright, 
Re echoes sweetly through the nighty 
While o'er the vision far, 
The starry worlds above 
Forget chaotic war 

And only think of love ! 
Thus by the first of Nature's laws — 
The law of stern effect and cause — 
Where Love once sets his seal 

He stamps eternal doom 
Of misery or weal 

Through all the time to come. 
What marvel then if man 
Adore the wondrous Plan 
That never shows aright 
Except at deepest night? 

VIII. 

For fallen love there is a ba^ ; 

Behold it in the skies ! 
The tempest fades into a calm, — 

The world, to paradise ! 
Hail then the voices of the sky, 

That speak to man such living truth ! 
Though Love may tall, and Hope may die, 

And all the energies of Youth, 
Still in the skies the sign is spread 

Of order, truth a *d love, 
The flaming sign of happiness 

Far in the worlds above. 

IX. 
Hail to the voice of Love at night ! 
All hail to Order's voice at Night ! 
All hail to Light's faint voice at night! 
Hail to the voice of Night at night! 
The world is beautiful around ; 

The skies are beautiful above ; 
A thousand voices strike the sound, 

And evory voice is filled with love ! 

X. 
Well might the swart Chaldean raise 
Aloft his wondering eyes — 



£8 THE MOUNTAIN BALD. 

Ev'n in those dark barbaric days — 

To gaze upon the skies. 
Why not?- -for Art had never spread 

Her glories o'er the waiting earth ; 
Where'er the gazer turned to tivad 

Strong Nature stood, the source of worth ; 
But most by night her glories shine, 
And nearer bring the border line 
To mortal view, where intertwine 
The living glories here below 

With living glories far above ; 
And all with light and life aglow, 

And all the charms and powers of love. 



-:o: 



The Drunkard's Wife. 

T. 

jHE night was gloomy — dark — and cold, 
And from the eastern sky no light; 
Each maddening blast new horrors told 
Attendant on the gusty night. 

II. 

The fire was dead, and o'er its tomb 
Of ashes, wrapped in sorrow sore, 

A worse than widowed mother whom 
The pitchy night no salace bore. 

III. 
She will not yet, embrace Despair — 

She still has hoping of relief; 
She will not tear her lovely hair, 

Nor wholly give away to grief. 

IV. 
She mourns — her husband's loss of pride ; 

She feels — yet almost doubts the truth ; 
Tis done ; — she can no more confide 

In him who loved her so in youth ' 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 99 

v. 
The drunkard still remains away ; 

The babe and mother colder grow ; 
The iufant sleeps; — a glimmering ray 

Of light unclouds her glimmering brow — 

VI. 
She hears him coming? O what joy ! 

'Tis past! — 'twas but the rustling leaves— 
And she alone! dark Nights annoy, 

A troubled web of sorrow weaves. 

VII. 
The infant sleeps — the sleep of death ! 

The mother lies upon the floor, 
And sighs in vain with every breath 

For whom she did at first adore ! 

VIII. 
No more she rates him " drunken brute" — 

Love will a thousand faults forget — 
She now recalls her dreamy youth 

When Love's eternal beauty set! 

IX. 
Still howl the winds around the door ; 

Time ushers on the dead of night ; 
"The youthful mother sorrows sore, 

And waits impatient for the light — 

X. 

The drunkard came at last, and called ; 

No voice replied ; he burst the door 
To find the hand of Death had wrought 

Sad havoc on his cabin floor ! 




100 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Handwriting on the Wall. 

jiiELSHAZZAR reigned in Babylon, and his throne 
5§§i Was paramount in all the nations known ; 
And dwelling in his royal palace halls, 
Begirt with Babylon's broad and massy walls, 
He felt secure from danger and alarms, 
Feared no assaulting shock of men-at-arms. 
His predecessors on the Imperial throne 
Had made Chaldea's iron scepter known , 
III many a distant land and region old 
From whence his tribute flowed of slaves and gold. 
And now Belshazzar proclamation made 
That all his nobles, sumptuously arrayed, 
Should with himself, his wives and concubines 
Unite and feast upon his choicest wines. 
Both courtiers gay and satraps heard the call 
And straight repaired to King Belshazzar's hall : 
The king was present in his robe of State ; 
The banquet hall was thronged from throne to gate; 
And many a brilliant lamp of ancient mould 
Shone from its chandelier of burnished gold ; 
And many a noble of that doomed land 
Was drinking riot at the king's command ; 
When lo ! a hand of wildering aspect "bright, 
Appeared, and on the wall began to write! 
Few were the words those angel fingers wrote, 
But each sang audibly a funeral note ; 
Few were the letters by those fingers traced, 
But each appeared with tenfold horror graced ; 
And now his charge performed — the warning gives — 
The amjel reaseended into Heaven ; 
Yet still those words of unknown meaning shone 
From off thn palace wall beside the throne ! 
As, when of old, their sires attempted vain 
To build a tower to Heaven from Shinar's plain, 
Jehovah fr>m above descending down 
To view the tower, the builders and the town, 
Confused tluir language to so dread extent 
That each knew naught of what another's meant — 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 101 

With one accord they left the tower alone, 

Awed by the preseuce oi the great Unknown : 

So from Belshazzar's feast the frightened guests 

No longer mindful of their king's behests, 

Each as his fancy led — both great and small — 

Turned in contempt, or left the haunted hall. 

Belshazzar gave command : " (Jhaldea's seers, 

Rise and expound what in these words appears 

Mysterious!" Advancing at his call, 

They view the dread handwriting on the wall : 

" These words by us were never seen before !" 

Thus virtually — " We see but know no more!" 

And when these masters of Chaldean lore 

Had viewed the wondrous letters o'er and o'er, 

And failed to note e'en one expressive word, 

The mild assurance of the queen was heard : 

" Let Daniel come, the Captive ; he ean best 

Expound these words that mar our royal rest, 

For in him dwell the spirits of the God!" 

To whom the king replied, " Perhaps he can !" 

Then turning to the guards — " Bring forth the man !" 

Then all were silent save those words unknown 

That shone fruin off the wall beside the throne. 

When Daniel entered that illumined hall, 

He gazed the dread handwriting on the wall, 

And theu to King Belshazzar : " Though thy sire, 

Nebuchadnezzar, felt Jehovah's ire, 

For proud persistence in his wicked ways, 

When with the cattle he was glad to graze ; 

And though thou knew'st the story of his fate — ■ 

Thou, the inheritor of his throne and State, 

Hast followed in his footsteps till the hand 

Of great Jehovah, armed against thy land, 

Hath broke the Babylonian's power in twain, 

As tempests dash rude vessels on the main !" 

Then turning to the letters on the wall: 

'• Mene, mene, tekel upharsin! All 

Related curses for thyself and throne : 

Belshazzar s grave is made ; his kingdom gone ; 

Tlie Mede and Persian occupy his throne J" 

That night the king was slain ; and on the mom, 

With joyous shout and peal of trumpet-horn, 

Darius entered through the Royal Gate, 

And took possession of the throne of State. 



102 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



^POSTROPHE TO THE Sun. 

[IjfeENTER of life and light ! though art the source 
<•§?§ Of boundless power. Thou art a sovereign throned 
Of all the land, all the boundless sea, 
Whose title none dispute. In earlier times, 
Ere man's aspiring mi no attained to thoughts 
Of nobler Essence, ere the Eternal Woid 
That framed thy mighty bulk and fired it up, 
Had deigned to guide his mind, immortal man, 
In adoration viewed thy flaming face 
And called it God ! and e'en till now, O Sun 
Thou'rt held in awe and reckoned 'naong the gods 
In various lands ! But we who sing thy praise 
This evening, hold thee not among the gods, 
But as the mightiest bulk of workmanship 
Which God in wisdom nlaced in viVw of Earth 
To teach his power. With inspiration full 
Thou art and power to soothe ; and shalt remain 
Through ceaseless time. Thou rollest fiercely on 
Forever, 'thwart the broad cerulean dome, 
Yet changest not nor tirest. Each fleetiug day, 
Thou clirabst the sky, and viewest this nether world, 
And shootst abroad thy rays of seven-fold light 
Down through the trackless void, and fallst toward Earth, 
And sinkst beneath the horizon's circling girt, 
And hidest from view ; and while for us 'tis night, 
Thou wheelst thy fiery car and rollest back — 
By us unseen — and reappearest at morn. 
O inexhaustible store of wealth and lite ! 
O priceless Jewell in our firmament set 
By wise Omnipotence! From forth thy face, 
In emanations swift through Heaven's expanse, 
Tby light and heat advance. Thou risest high, 
And briugst the Summer forth, and givest the Earth 
Her flowery robe, and causest fruit to grow 
And every herb, and wakest the lightnings up, 
That rend the furious clouds aloft in air 
Throned on the rolling winds. Thou rollest back: — 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 103 

Dread Winter takes his stand ; the hills are bare ; 

The thunders cease to fling their fiery bolts ; 

And but for thy return, all Earth were void 

And life would cease. Sublime and dreadful sphere! 

Thou rolling ball, thou world of moving fire I 

Whence all thy power so like Omnipotence? 

Who taught thee how to drive thy furious car 

O'er Heaven's cerulean dome? Who lit the flames 

That wrap thy face with fire and shoot their beams 

Of living heat throughout thy vast domain ? 

Who strewed the worlds aiound thy burning throne, 

And gave thee power to hurl them round thyself 

Till worlds shall end? Who gave thee power to rule 

The surging tides of Ocean's boundless depths? 

What Power prevents thy ceaseless burning mass 

From falling into naught, by flames devoured? 

Who cleareth from out thy way the Heavenly orbs 

That thou full scope might have to rush thy car 

Still headlong on with flames and smoke inwrapped? 

" God ! God 1" shine forth the hills that rear their heads 

To catch thy dawning smile, thy parting glimpse; 

*'God !" shout the clouds that ceaseless ride the air 

In furious storms; the winds shriek loudly, "God!" 

The lightnings rush from out their secret hide, 

A*-d loudly burst the echoing thunder tones 

That shake both Earth and Heaven and cry out, " God !" 

And now thou shootst thy beams amid the storm, 

And sets in every cloud thy radiant bow 

That strides the air and whispers softly, " God/" 

And far beyond the Equatorial girt 

Where lies the Earth with ice and snow enrobed, 

Both land and Ocean ceaseless utter " God !" 

And e'en the Earth, the stars, the Heavens themselves, 

Still onward fly and catch the echo, " God!" 

Whilst thou, O Sun! who hast thy dazzling throne 

Both night and day — with thee there is no night — 

High up in Heaven among thy kindred spheres, 

Still rollest on — both round thy flaming self 

And round the central Universal Throne — 

Aud loi.kst abroad throughout thy bright domain 

Lit by the flaming rays received from God, 

And cryest aloud aud ceaseless, " God is Power!" 



104 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Overthrow of Babylon. 
i. 

fl^ELSHAZZAR sat upon his throne, 
fJHf A sovereign proud in Babylon ; 
Before him sat at festal boards 
A thousand lords. 



II. 

The king commanded every knee 
To bow in deap humility, 
To gods of wood, and brass, and stone ; 
The feat was done ! 



III. 
His guests arose : upon the wall 
A hand appeared ; and over all 
A terror spread as if to note 
The words it wrote ' 



IV. 
The graven letters stood unknown 
Upon the wall beside the throne 
Till Daniel came— the captive Jew- 
Aud ran them through. 



V. 

He tead : " Belshazzar's grave is made, 
His kingdom gone ! His power is weighed ! 
His throne the Persian and the Mede 
Usurp with sp^ed !" 

VI. 

That night the king was slain ; and when 
The morning woke to life again, 
Darius climbed the throne of State 
And sealed its fate. 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 105 



The Son of Abou Khan. 
i. 

INHERE lived a kuight of Hindoostan, 
^fej? A worthy son of Abou Khan, 
Who bred and born to Buddhist views 
Still held a preference for the Jews. 
He read of Shadrach's fiery bed, 
And how the angel sentries stood, 
Of Daniel in the lion's den, 
And how he stood there unsubdued ; 
Elijah and Elisha too 
Before him passed in strict review— 
And David with his slinging-stone 
To fight Goliath all alone — 
These stories in his youth he heard, 
Believing firmly every word! 
So when he paused upon the brink 
Of sterner manhood, there to think 
Awhile up»n the various roads 
By greater and by lesser Gods 
Chalked out on earth for human life, 
This worthy son of Abou Khan, 
A valiant knight of Hindoostan, 
Renounced at once his father's creed, 
Became a Jew in word and deed, 
And cried t<. all who round him trod — 
" Jehovah is the only God !" 

II. 

And time rolled on — and on — yet still 
He worshipped toward Moria's hill ! 
He was a Jew in deed and word, 
Beiievf-d their Scriptures every word, 
Yet living in a land unknown 
To Jewish or to Western throne ! 
Ev u Alexander failed to pass 

The streamlet where his cottage stood ! 
Around him dwelt in solid mass 

The Buddhist votaries unsubdued ; 



106 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

Aud wheu their laws were pointed forth 
He shouted to the sous of earth — 
" I'll worship as my heart inspires, 
Though doomed thereby to peual fires!" 
And thus he held his creed— his name — 
As if his country held the same ; 
Unmindful of the savage thirst 
Of church fanatics, far the worst 
That ever entered court to swear 
Against the doomed to despair ! 



ill. 
A year rolled on ; — and Abou Khan, 
A shining light of Hindoostan, 
Was childless 'cause his son had trod 
The footsteps of a foreign God ! 
Religion ! in thy godly name 

What godless crimes do men commit! 
Crimes that would bring the Devil to shame 

Cast on the gods of holiest Writ ! 
Let others serve the God they choose, 
The Islam's —Buddhist's — or the Jew's ; 
For me, I'll take the dangeious plan, 
Like this lone star of Hindoostan, 
And worship as my heart inspires, 
Though doomed thereby to penal fires ! 
For since the light began to glow, 
And man began the truth to know, 
No greater crime hath marked the world, 
Or o'er the human race been hurled, 
Than his who with his neighbor strives 
To fasten Conscience in the gyves ! 
For Conscience still will break, and soar, 
Believing all it did before, 
Though monarchs frown and tyrants rave 
And turn the garden to a grave ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 107 



The Midnight Lamp, 
i. 

IWAS not the workman's tool alone 
That gave the earth her living stamp ; 
"Ivvas aided by the '* great Unknown," 
And by the blazing Midnight lamp. 

/ 



II. 

The voice of Nature sounds serene 

Where Midnight sets her sacred stamp ; 

The throne of Worth is ever seen 

Where burns the blazing Midnight lamp. 



III. 

The blazing of the Midday Sun 
Sufficeth for the woodman's tramp; 

But Wisdom hovers round her throne 
Where burns the blazing Midnight lamp. 



IV. 

What is the genius of our age? 

What gave us our progressive stamp? 
What brightens our historic page? — 

The energetic Midnight lamp. 



V. 
Tiie voice ot Nature cries aloud 

Where Midnight sets her sacred stamp ; 
Yea, speaks as though a fiery cloud 

That hovers round the Midnight lamp. 



108 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The jSong at th£ Red Sea. 



fjjEHOVAH is a man of war! Jehovah let us sing ! 
'lkJ > Jehovah is the God of peace — the universal King! 
The chariot and the charioteer to Him as naught appear; 
He breathes upon the mailed ranks — and thousands disap- 
pear ! 
The horses and the riders lie beneath the angry flood, 
The battle-flag forever furled, and hushed the cry of blood! 
The servitude of Israel in a foreign land is o'er! 
The Slave is now emancipate and on a distant shore J 
The lofty pyramids beside the lordly Nile may stand, 
To teach the future ages where the Pharaohs held command, 
Yet still the name of Egypt fails through all the time to 

come ; 
Such is Jehovah's living curse — and such is Egypt's doom ' 
The Egyptian monarchies a proud and triple pillar stood, 
Though oft assailed by Time and War, as often unsubdued, 
Until their kings perfected all the heinous arts of Crime, 
Then (ell in horrid overthrow — the laughing-stock of Time! 
Yet not alone is Pharaoh's haughty State the seat of crimes, 
The blazing sentinels of Ruin to the future times ; 
The voice of Love is silent through the wild and broad ex- 
panse — 
Why sejk for love where man adores the hated sword and 

lance? 
And Science, yet unborn, hears wild and undisturbed rage, 
And leaps in vain to catch the light — each hour a sunless 

a S e— 
Till through the boundless Orient a living voice is heard, 

And new-born Science springs to life, and speaks the magic 

word 
That disenthroues a thousand gods, and pours the living light 
Of Truth around the boasted throne of old and boastful 

Night! , 

Then let the voice of Hope abound along the rugged shore, ' 
Till mountain-crag to mountain-crag repeat our triumphs o'er! 
And cry, "Jehovah's warrior might — Jehovah's praise we 

sing ! 
The everlasting God of peace — the universal King !" 



THE MOUSTAIS BARD. IQ9 



Aftee^ the Stcr 



M 



§0\V brilliant 'twixt tlie rit ted clouds appears 
The orient Sun, a? o'er the mountain's crest 
He rears his huad to bid the tempest rest! 
All night the winds around the fixed spheres 
Howled in terrific fury, giving Night 
A double terror ; while the heart of man 
In deep emotion tried in vain to scan 
The depth of Nature iu her far delight. 
Hail then the dawning of another Day 
That o'er the realm of Tempest and of Night 
Re rears the standard and the power of Light, 
And scatters brilliance through the rising spray! 
Hail radiant Suu ! Thy kind return inspires 
The weary heart that had despaired of life, 
To pluck fresh courage for each coming strife. 
E'eu as the earth beueath thy kindling fires 
Puts on her verdurous robe of Nature's green 
And blooms and shakes and o'er the tomb of Death 
Spreads shrouds of living green, fanned by the breath 
Of spicy gales that o'er the freshening scene 
Serenely float and charm the p;:sser by : 
Ev'n so when o'er the ruined wrecks of Fame 
The suu of Hope arises to reclaim 
Our primal state of life and purity ! 
Such is the awful mystery of life! 
When dread Disaster with monarchic stride 
O'trturns our confidence and scorns our pride, 
Life plucks fresh vigor from the rolling strife, 
And springs erelong from out the wrecks of Time 
More vivid than before and more sublime! 



110 THE MOUNTAIN BARD, 



F-A.ZR/T SIXTH. 



The Two Songs, 
i. 

[OW let the freemen sing the song 
Of Right throughout the lands of Wrong ! 
And every mountain wake to hear 
The anthem martyrs held so dear ! 
And every breeze forget to blow ; 
And every brook forget to flow ; 
And every soul prolong the strain 
That swells from mountain-top to main, 
Preserving in its verse sublime 
The grandest memories of Time 
And giving many an honored name 
To future ages and to Faroe ! 
Yea, strike the song from shore to shor« 
Till tyrants' thrones shall be no more ! 
And every martyr's tears be dried 
Through lauds of freedom far and wide! 
Till all shall join — a happy train — 
To sing in many an ancient strain 
Reflected from an age of night, 
The song of Wrong in lands of Right! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

IL 

The freemen heard those words of fire; 
Then struck the loud resounding lvre! 
They chanted loud — the} 7 chanted long — 
Throughout the dismal lands of Wrong! 
They sung by night — they sung by day-- 

They sung by land — they sung hy sea — 
They sung where monarchs held their sway- 

They sung where every glen is free — 
They sung till traitors fled the sight, 
The mighty song of mighty Right! 



Ill, 

Still let the joyous strains prolong; 
Let pealing organs peal the song] 
Till every mountain wakes to hear 
The anthem martyrs held so dear! 
And every breeze forgets to blow ; 
And every brook forgets to flow ; 
And every soul prolongs the strain 
That swells from mountain-top to main., 
And tells of freedom's battles won 
Through all the cireuit of the sunl 
For every liberty we own 
Was wrested from a tyraut's throne; 
And every flower that scents the morn 
Was gathered from a spiry thorn ! 



IV. 

But tyrants' thrones are now no more 
On eastern or on western shore ; 
And all shall join — a happy train — 
To sing in many an ancient strain 
The praise of those who sung in vain 
And cried from mountain-top to main, 
In spite of scorn, in spite of pain, 
Their present loss — but future gain- 
Yea all shall sing with wild delight 
At home — abroad — by day — by night— 
The song of Wrong in lands of Right! 



112 THE MO UNTA IN BA h D. 



The Trial by Jury, 
i. 

fjlf)F all the great bulwarks set up for th" free 
£§*§; By the blood of the martyrs — the wisdom of sages- 
The trial by Jury — who would not agree? — 

Stands forth as the brightest bequest of the ages. 



II.. 

The trial by Jury I where first it appeared. 

We know not nor care ; — but we hail it with song 

As the grandest tribunal that ever was reared 
To establish the right and prohibit the wrong — 



III. 

The pillar of Freedom — the engine of Truth — 

The rock of Defense — the great structure of a^es: — 

It grappled with Tyranny even in youth — 
And came off a victor applauded by sages. 



IV. 
And even the tyrant of Normandy's shore 

Who thrived on the ruins of England — ev'n he, 
Though he trod Saxon liberties down by the scored 

Fouud the Jury a bulwark reserved to the free. 



. V. 
And the warrior with thousands of men at his heels 

And millions of money — which Freedom so loathes — 
Is put to the rout when the. country once feels 

The power of twelve honest men armed with their oaths ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 113 



Bunker's fiiLL.< 
r. 

|l RISE, imperial Bunker' shake 
§sH Thy firmest set foundation stone! 
Bid anarchs, kings and tyrants quake, 
. And bury in Oblivion 
The memory of Oppression's throne ! 

II. 

Thy hill so calm to present gaze 
Was once the seat of roaring War ; 

Thy sheeted crest with fire ablaze 
Shot deadly missiles near and far 
Revolving like a falling star ! 

III. 

Here fell the patriots' blood as rain, 
Spilt in defense of Freedom's cause ; 

Here bristling steel and leaden hail 

Strove 'gainst each other scorning pause, 
Those for, these 'gainst King George's laws. 

IV. 

Immortal Warren ! o'er thy bones 
Let Freedom weep a double tear — 

Half in defiance of the thrones, 
And half lamenting that the bier 
Should be employed so proudly here ! 

v. 

And yet methinks on Bunker's Hill 
Were grandest tomb to mortals known ; 

Yea kings their glory to fulfill 

Would quit the terror-haunted throne 
To sleep on Bunkner's crest alone ! 

VI. 
Freedom ! immortal Bunker's name 

Be guarded by thy holiest ties ! 
Let the eternal trump of Fame 



114 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

Re echo through the Western skies, 
Till Bunker's proudest memories rise! 



VI. 

Spirit of Bunker! deign to fill 
The sons of sires who won renown 

Upon thy world-applauded hill — 
And oh ! forbid the tempting crown 
To tear thy ancient gloiies down/ 



-:o:- 



Tn THE ^LLEGHANIES. 

[O tyrant here can wield the cursed rod 
Where all breathe free the atmosphere of God ! 
This goodly laud by Nature's stern decree 
Was pre-ordained a land of liberty. 
Witness ye momtains whose eternal crests 
O'ergaze the landscape where the brooklet rests ; 
Witness ye crystal brooks that flow serene 
The roujrh and jagged mountain ribs between ; 
Or witness all ye hardy sons of men 
Who rule as monarchs of the peaceful glen, 
Where every breeze that passes softly by 
Kisses the trees and whispers, ''Liberty!" 
O earth! where such another land as this? 
Where such a dearth of woe? such stores of bliss ? 
Pure crystal brooklets flow the hills between ; 
High monarch mountains clothe the verdurous scene; 
While vasty torrents rushing heedless by 
O'er precipices joining earth and sky, 
Co rival in their fierce and far delight 
Yosemite's or steep Niagara's might! 



THE MOUNTAIN BAUD. H5 



T 



he Oracle. 



i. 



|3^EARS on years — and age on ages — 
F^l R°" along the fields of Glory, 
Filling all historic pages 
With the cry of prisoned debtors 
And the clang of Whig and Tory ; — 
But the sons of toil and labor 
Reap no harvest from the saber; 
And the endless jar and jargon 
Hide the causes of the story. 

II. 

What is Greece? A servile nation, 
Racked and torn by local fetters — 
Tomb of far historic Ages — 
Temple of the gods and sages — 
In the midst of hostile nations, 
All surrounded : — once her station 
Ranked the first, the grandest nation 
Known to mortals! In her Athens, 
Socrates aspired to' glory — 
Gave his creed to waiting natious — 
Died, — and ended up the story ; 
Pericles — and Alexander — 
Stern Derao-thenes— ah, Glory! 
Vainly do we read thy story, 
Graveu on historic pages — 
Greece is gone, and half forgotten 
By the wise — the modern sages! 
Glory is a torch that flickers 
O'er the outer sea of darkness, 
Flickers now, and brighter blazes- - 
Lures the wisest through its mazes — 
Dies, — and leaves us to its phases ! 

ill. 
What has France to claisii the vision ? 
On we hie to lauds Elysian ! 
To the laud of warlike Saxons — 



116 THE MO UNTAIN BALD. 

Boasted land of boasted Freedom, 
Both a farce ! The love of glory — 
Still the burden of their story — 
Glory through succeeding ages — 
Glory in the pangs of Freedom 
'Graven on historic pages ! 
Witness Europe ! witness Asia ! 
Africa and proud Columbia ! 
Last and greatest, witness Ireland ! 
Land of debtors ! — laud of labor ! — 
Tyrants' home! — and grave of Freedom! 
Land where he who lifts the saber 
Dies the death ! The immortal story, 
Writ in blood but not in glory, 
One eternal beacon 'blazes- 
Meets the eye where'er it gazes — 
Calls for man's enduring praises. 

IV. 

Seven hundred years of labor — 
Foreign lords have held the harvest ! 
Often rising with the saber — 
Still her faith remains unshaken ; — 
Jews and Greeks have fought for ages, 
Fought and bled in quest of Freedom — 
But the Irish faith surpasses 
Aught upon historic pages ; 
Irishmen have wept for ages — 
Fought for freedom through all stages — 
Fought tor all, but got no wages — 
Wept and died in foreign cages — 
Plied the storm where'er it rages — 
Gave the English tongue her sages — 
Eat the bread of toil in sorrow — 
Still have hoping for the morrow ! 
Still have hope to see the Saxon 
Banished from this isle of sorrow ! 
Still have hope of Ireland's banners 
Waving o'er her ancient people ! 
Still have hope to hear the shouts of 
Freedom from each tower and steeple ! 
Still have hope — their foes all smitten — 
Hope to see the hope of ages — 
Emmet's epitaph be written ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD, 117 



jr.f 



UTURO. 



L 
II SPIRIT hovers o'er the East 
§||y The future seat of roaring war, 
Where flapping vultures soon shall feast 
On armies hailing from afar. 

II. 
Woe to the empiie of the Turk, 

That soon shall pass to bloodier hands! 
'Tis Time's decree; but bloody work 

Must first o'erthrow those classic lands ! 



ill. 

Ah ! wrapped with firns of future wars, 
Full many a Seio 'gins to blaze ; 

And groaning 'neath the lash of Mars, 
From shore to shore the nations gaze. 

IV. 

From Ethiope to the Azof Sea 

The fires extend ; while sounds the shock 
Of tyrants warring with the free 

From Gauges to Gibraltar's rock. 



V. 
Wildly the tide ©f blood and tears 

Pours o'er the century-trodden East; 
And louder than for thousand years, 

Death grins in mockery at the feast. 

VI. 
But lo! the Turk for Tartar plains 

Departs to take his ancient stand I 
No longer stern Mahomet reigns ! 

But other tyrants spoil the land ! 



118 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Whipping Post Tp^ee. 
i. 

'HE walnut of Fishkill still stands as a mark 
Of the barbarous practice upheld by our sires ; 
But Nature has wrapped in her mantle of bark 
The eugiue the tyrant so greatly admires ! 

ir. • 
Here stood the scared Tory fast chained to the tree ; 

By his side the deserter from Amric's wars! 
And the merciless cowhide — that scourge of the free — 

Was brought forth — a disgrace to the calling of Mars! 

HI. 

And this was for freedom? — aye, freedom indeed! 

Such freedom as Jefferson Dever defended ! 
Ah no! 'twas camp-followers did the foul deed. 

Whose names should no longer with freedom's be blended ! 

IV. 
And now what remains for the poet to sing? 

Th" fame-of the scoundrel is blent with the sage's! 
And the cause of the hero who hated his king 

Is disgraced by the barbarous practice of ages! 

v. 
And shall I then sins of the conquests sublime 

Of the cause of the free — gaining strength with each age — 
Unawed by the villainies grafted on crime 

'JS"eath the banner of freedom — the cause of the sage? • 

vr. 

Shall I sing of the glories of Washington's zeal — 
Of Jefferson's fire — and of Hamilton's skill — 

Of Adams — and Henry — and yet never feel 
The blushing ©f shame for the tree of Fishkill ? 

VII. 
The blushing of shame on a sea of wild pride 

Pours a gloom o'er the Present, a cloud o'er the Past ; 
But it works for the Future what years have denied — 

A freedom unbounded — a boon which shall last! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. \\% 

VIII. 
Then let the lou 1 clarion sound through the land 

Till the fame of our freedom fills valley and hill ; 
Aud the chivalrous deeds ot our sages shall brand 

With darkest Oblivion t^e tree of Fishkilll 



Af-jsiodd's March to Canada, 
t. 

^jlEHOLD from out the Wilderness 
gUff This gallant band emerging forth, 

JSworn to avenge th^ir late distress 

And carry war into the North! 

How valiant beats each manly heart! 

How glows the cheek at sight of art! 

For art of man by them unseen 

Throughout the dreary march hath been! 

II. 

They marshal round their standard, and - 

A formidable front present 

To all the dread monarchic bands 

Of widespread Canada's extent; 

Unfurled their standards flaunt the sky 

Aud urge to deeds of victory ; 

The future Traitor sounds the alarms 

Aud all his warriors stand in arms ! 

III. 
O that the soul of him that leads 
This valiant band of warriors forth 
Had firmness to resist the greed 
That lures the wisest sons of Earth ! 
But this is not; nor can we tell 
What, cause iaspires the brave to sell ; 
But this we see from times afar — 
The greatest criminal is War! 



120 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Surrender of Cornwallis. 

i. 

[IS done ; — the martial drum no more 
Shall rouse Columbia's sods to arms; 

The cloud of war is gone ; the roar 

Reechoes not in wild alarms ; 
Eternal Freedom ceaseless be adored — 
Cornwallis tenders now his hostile sword I 

II. 

Heroic hearts that dared to brave 

War's thunders rolling fierce and high, 

That scorned the terror of the wave — 

Resolved with liberty to die 
Or live with Victory — War's destruction poured 
In furious streams that gained Cornwallis' sword ! 

III. 

Brave hearts that wept when from the North 

War's thundering echoes first were heard, 

Heroic souls that marshalled forth 

To bloodiest war without a word, 
Rejoice! for Victory leaves the English Lord! 
Cornwallis now presents his hostile sword ! 

IV. 

Throughout the States let music roll ; 

Let joy resume her ancient stand ; 

Let liberty assume control, 

A sovereign of this glorious laud ; 
Peace! stand in triumph where the War has roared ! 
For now Cornwallis tenders George his sword ! 

V. 

Time! hast thou seen a worthier sight? 

Freedom ! thy reign is now secure ! 

Earth ! hail the breaking up of Night ! 

Columbia! hold thy victory sure ! 
An d every freeman praise the living Lord ! 
For now Cornwallis yields his hostile sword ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 121 



Grandfather's Clock, 
i. 

jll'NTHRONED upon thy ancieut mantel-tree 
||g§ O king of clocks! thou 'rt ever dear to me, 
As with a tireless stroke thnt scorns at rest. 
Thy ticks and tocks — 
O king of clocks ! — 
Cry out aloud to all, "To work is best!" 

II. 

Thou first of clocks that ever told the time 
In grand old Logan ! o'er thy thione sublime 
Have more than fifty arm^d winters rolled 

And yet thy tocks — 

O king of clocks ! — 
Are clear and sweet as in the days of old. 

III. 
Immortal fam^ to Terry and his son, 
Thy valor uives, as standing on tf.y throne 
Thou raak'st thy impress on the sands of Time ; 

Thy ticks and tocks — 

O king cf clocks ! — 
Preserve their names and make thy throne sublime. 

IV. 
Let others share thy master's hidden gold 
When he shall sleep in Death's eternal fold. 
If I survive I'll only ask for thee! 

Thy ticks and tocks — 

O king of clocks ! — 
Were legacy and wealth enough for me ! 

V. 
Since first thy race began, one race of men 
Has lived — and died— and turned to dust again ; 
And yet thou seem'st in vigor's prime of youth ! 

Thy ticks and tocks — 

O king of clocks ! — 
Are like the workings of eternal Truth. 



122 THE MOUNTAIN BAKD. 

VI. 

Grim War hath swept around thy peaceful throne, 
And hurled into the land of the unknown 
Some of thy household resting now afar ; 

And yet thy tocks — 

O king of clocks ! — 
Did never halt to curse the murderous War. 

VII. ' 

And now of late thou art again bereft, 
Another faithful friend ! yea, thou art left 
To unskilled hands that on thy wants attend ; 

And yet thy tocks — 

O king of clocks! — - 
Gave but a single day to mourn her end ! 

viri. 
Thou first and last of clocks! when thou art done 
Thy mortal race, and standest on thy throne 
A lifeless thing, my tears thy. fall shall weep; 

For with thy tocks — 

O king of clocks !- - 
So often hast thou rocked my youth to sleep ! 



The J 



ews Lament. 






I. 

lOREVER must I vainly weep 
f| O'er Salem's fall and I-rael's loss? 
Salem ! arise from out thy sleep — 
Refine thy gold and bum thy dross. 

II. 
The voice of music once did float 

In sweetness o'er thy hills serene; 
But now how different sounds the note 

That rolls thy ruined walls between ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 123 

in. 
The wisest king of ancient days 

In thee upreared his throne of State ; 
Now from thy hills the unlettered gaze 

Of slaves — such is the tyranny of Fate ! 

IV. 

Yea! in thy ancient Temple deigned 

Jehovah to descend in light! 
But stranger gods have long profaned 

Thy hills through many an age of night. 

v. 
And twice a thousand circling years 

Have failed to cure thy cureless woe, 
And scorned the sacrifice of teais 

Shed o'er thy ruinous overthrow. 

VI. 

In thee no more loud shouts are heard, 

As erst in days more truly blest, 
At promulgation of the Word 

Revealed on Sinai's thundering crest ; 

VII. 

For lo ! a Mosque upreared on high ! 

What profanation of the Truth ! 
And yet 'tis vain to heave the sigh, j 

Or mourn the overthrow of Youth. 

VIII. 
Why slumbers thus the sword of Death ? 

Deserves no other State the stroke ? 
Shall Israel dwell upon the heath 

Forever 'neath the tyrant's yoke ? 

IX. 

And will Jehovah never smile 

On lands where once Shechinah dwelt? 

Shall Israel mourn while foes the while 
Boast o'er the ruin they have dealt ? 

x. 

And must I weep forever more 

O'er Salem's fall and Israel's loss? 
Rise, Salem / to the race once more ! 

Refine thy gold and burn thy dross ! 



124 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Land of our^ Fathers, 
t. 

,'HE lann of our fathers is holiest ground ; 
> There their blood in defense of our freedom they spilt ; 
And curst be the tyrant who lingers around 

To destroy the pr f, ud temple our forefathers built! 



- II. 
The voice of a century cries to the world 

In behalf of our freedom so hallowed in song ; 
And we march lo the conquest with banners unfurled, 

Singing songs of the Right in the lands of the Wrong. 

| HI. 

And history now opes a new page of her book — 

A page to record the successes of Peace ! 
And the poet now sings without fear of rebuke 

The shame of the warrior — whose glories now cease ! 

IV. 
Strike a blow at our freedom? — the world is undone! 

We are here from the uttermost parts of the earth ! 
For the pilgrims from Zembla to lands of the Sun 

Struck tent when they heard of our Union's proud birth! 

V. 
The Irishman's lnve-of his country prevails 

When the heat of debate stirs the depths o the soul ; 
And the might, of the Saxon is seen when the gales 

Threaten wreck to our vessels in search of the Pole! 



VI. 

The German is here in his love for the vine; 

The Frank in his freedom untrammeled by creed ; 
The Switzer may here find a lovelier Rhine, 

And a new race of Tells to adorn— not to bleed ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



125 



VII. 



O land of thf* stranger ! O home of the free ! 

May thy glories increase on the pages of Time! 
And thy freedom a marvel, a watchword shall be 

To the warriors of Iruth in each country of Crime! 



vnr. 



And the voice of the ages shall shout to the world 
The worth of our freedom so hallowed in song; 

While we march to the conquest wiih banners unfurled, 
Singing songs of the Right in the lands of the Wrong! 




126 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



ZF^IR/T .SZE^TIEIIsrTIEt:. 



The Powef^ of Fright, 
i. 

|| TRAVELER met at Cairo's gate 
fpf A monster clad in regal state ; 

The Eastern Plague, who sword in hand 

Has devastated many a land 

And strewed his path with ghastly death ! 

II. ' 
" How numerous are your destined prey 
Adjudged to death beneath your sway?" 
The traveler said. The Plague's reply, 
"Three thousand citizens shall die!" 
Sauk to his heart a poisoned dart. 

III. 
In time the travelers met again. 
" You threatened three and murdered ten !" 
Declared the man. The Plague replied : 
" I killed but three ; the rest that died 

If known aright, were killed by fright." 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD, 127 



j HE y 



isioN of a Specter 



i. 

MFELL into a languid swoon 
And slumbered 'at the height of noon;, 
And in my slumber plainly heard 
A voice with half prophetic' word, 
As if proceeding from my side, 
Shriek loudly, " Rise and view thy bride !" 

II. 

Half startled at the hideous sound, 

I woke, arose and gazed around ; 

But wheu I saw no visible face 

Of either living form or dead, 

Thought I, " Tis but a lingering trace 

Of some faint vision, of the head !" 

With this I reassumed my place 

Of rest upon the matted bed, 

And pondering the vision deep, 

Precipitately tell asleep ; 

And ere the echoes hardly died, 

It shrieked again, " Behold thy bride! 

iir. 
Weary at length — who would deny? — 
Of this monotonous, hideous cry, 
I sternly said ere half awake — 
<l Depart my room for Mercy's sake! 
Why came you here to mar my rest ?" 
At this the Specter neared my side, 
And with his hideous voice replied — 
'' Thou shouldst not thus be over weary ! 
For Time in time will bring the tide 
Of hopeless years and visions dreary! 
This time for thee — alas! — too soon, 
Who slumbereth thus at height of noon ! 
But to my dreadful task I must 
So arm thyself to bear the worst!" 



128 THE MO UN TA IN BARD. 

IV. 

As spake this bold intruder rude, 

My trembling heart was quite subdued ; 

"This is," thought I, "the Angrel of Death \" 

But soon to ease my heait occurred 

To me the tenor of his word ; 

" For me not death," 1 cried, " but life! 

But oh ! what hath befallen my wife, 

That thou shouldst through my window stride, 

And bid me thus behold my bride?" 

At this the Specter waved his wand. 

And bade me in his presence stand I 

With terror dumb and wild dismay, 

Trembling. I ventured to obey; 

The Specter waved aloft bis wand, 

And tapped me gently with his hand, 

And told me that he came no foe ; 

" But hark !" said he, " I've "ome to show 

Thy youthful mind what shall befall 

Thyself, thy wife, thy friends, thy all !" 

V. 

At this I courage took to hear 

Whatever tale he chose to tell ; 

His voice was smoother now and clear, 

Foretokening still that all was well ; 

But when he started his discourse, 

I found his theme to be a curse ! 

" Thou'rt in the prime of youth," said he; 

" Thy heart is blithesome, buoyant, free ; 

But thou — alas! — hast gone astray ! 

Therefore, henceforward from to day, 

Shall be for thee no joy no ■ peace, 

Till worn by time and care shall cease 

Thy sorrowful heart to palpitate, 

Thy laboring soul to strive and wait!" 

Then seizing me lie bade me look 

Into his everlasting book : 

I looked; and lo! upon the sheet • 

I saw my photograph complete ! 

I gazed with terror and surprise ; 

I then disputed with my eyes ; 

But finding on the sheet a square 

Of writing legible and fair, 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 129 



I thither bent my wondering gaze 
And read with terror and amaze — 
" Behold emerging out of youth, 
A temple built for Love and Truth ! 
How like a God erect he stands ! 
How like a school-girl's are his hands ! 
His opening mind, how heavily fraught 
With love, and joy and every thought- 
Whatever else was written there 
The Specter may himself declare ; 



For here he snatched from me the book, 
And with a proud, disdainful look, 
Began to turn the pages o'er 
In quest of what is yet in store. 



VI. 

And as he turned the pages by 

I saw whole generations die ! 

And heard, or seemed to hear, the cries 

That are to rend the eternal skies! 

Hearing at length a joyous shout, 

And seeing the flames dart fiercely out, 

I slapped my hand upon the page 

Where joy was mingled thus with rage, 

And asked the Specter if I might 

A moment gaze upon the sight. 

"These fools?" said he; " for such they are 

Who slay each other thus in war !" 

I saw the hostile banners rise ; 

I heard the whoop that tore the skies ; 

And when their leaders gave command, 

The strength and pride of many a land 

Together rushed and fought and bled 

As if from Earth had reason fled ! 

And when I heard the cannon's loar, 

I quit the scene, and said, " No more 

Of war for me !" The ghost replied — 

" These wars are all in store for earth .' 

And if thy valor ne'er is tried, 

Thou well mayst praise thy peaceful birth ; 

For as the ages roll along, 

War gathers home her valiant throng !" 



130 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

With this the Specter seized the book, 

And said by ray consent he'd look 

The records o'er of War and Fame, * 

And tell rae when he found my name. 

He turned the pages one by one 

From where man's history first begun ; 

I looked thereon. I saw disease 

In forms too dread and foul to name ; 

I saw mankind as by degrees 

They changed till they were not the same 

In shape or look ; and last of all 

I saw my own unwelcome pall ! 

But war or peace I could not tell, 

For prostrate on'the floor I fell ; 

The Specter waved aloft his wand, 

And gave me power to rise and stand ; 

But when he gave me back the book, 

My hand so violently shook, 

That on the floor with hideous roar 

This direful roll of sorrows fell, 

Complete of ours and those in Hell ! 

The Specter then with scornful look, 

Commanded me to gaze the book ! 

With heavy soul and straining eyes 

I viewed that book of monstrous size ; 

For on the back in wondrous plan 

The letters of the title ran — 

I read, and lo! The Doom of Man! 



viii. 
I turned to view the Specter's face, 
But it had vanished into space ! 
I turned again to view the book, , 
But it had wtnished out of sight ! 
Specter and all had ta'en its flight ! 
The Specter's vision now had fled ; 
And I was lying on the bed 
With heavy heart and aching head. 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 131 



The Monster 



i. 

I^HE sun was set. And as the last 
Glimmer of light was fading fast, 

A monster parched upon the sands 
Where Cairo stands ! 

II. 

A monster hideous as the Plague — 
And shook his ulcerous arm and leg, 
Aud swore to slay at one fell stroke 
One half the folk ! 

III. 

The frightened citizens knew not 
How to escape the curse of what 
Each in his fancy deemed a god 
As forth he strode. 

IV. 
Twas plain he was a deity 
Stained with the blood of victory 
Gained in some fight above the clouds. 
Among the gods! 

V. 
Some built an altar-place and slew 
The sacrifice ; and though they knew 
Not e'en the name the monster bore. 
Sought to aaore ! 

Iv - 
Thus these in utter depths of night 

Paid homage ; every living wight 

Trembling with mute astonishment 

And gaze intent! 

VII. 

The monster though he felt the power 
To smite the throng and in an hour 
To desolate the land, still knew 
What best to do. 



132 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

VIII. 
His power he held while he would smite 
Both man aud cattle; his delight 
Was first to smite the beast and then 
To slay the men. 

IX. 

He knew if man into his arm 
Would graft the virus that his harm 
Was o'er; therefore the cattle he 
Smote cautiously. 

x. 

There stood a cow near by ; he felt 
All lenient as the stroke he dealt 
To her — but e'en- to draw his breath 
Was certain death ! 

X . L 
The throng beheld with wild surprise ; 

And gazing on the darkening skies, 

Piled sacrifice to this new lord 

Adored — abhorred ! 

XII. 

The monster then somewhat at ease, 
Let loose the power of his disease ; 
And thousands with the ulcerous wound 
Lay dead around ! 

XIII. 
In later times in bloody raid 
He slew more mortals than the blade ; 
Where'er he went he filled the tomb 
And scattered gloom ! 

XIV. 
But his like every other's time 
Wound to a close; inuied to crime, 
He careless grew and 'gan to make 
A foul mistake : 

XV. 

It bred such joy to deal the stroke 
That o'er his ancient rule he broke 
And slew by thousands man and beast 
Throughout the East. 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 133 

XVI. 
Iu one of his excursions he 
Found man had stolen his victory; 
The bovine virus bad been tried 
And him defied ! 

xvir. 
And now man holds within his hands 
The power to banish from these lands 
This ancient pest — yet strange to say. 
We still delay. 



-:o: 



T 



he Arrival, 



1. 

*IN'DS were raging on the sea, 
Heaving wildly with commotion ; 
Shallow vessels boisterously 

Tumbled o'er the hungry ocean: 
Day by day the anxious crowds 

Sought a glimmer of the vision 
Of the waving of the shrouds 
Scorning tempest with Elysian. 

II. 
All aboard was black despair, 

Grief and agonizing terror; 
Maidens — raving — tore their hair; 

Tars- — carousing — cursed their error: 
Still upon the silent beach 

Stood in anxious expec tatiou 
Parents, friends and lovers — each 

Anxious for the crew's salvation. 

III. 

" Work, you jolly tar!" resounds 
Far across the chafing ocean ; 

" Sprung another leak !" confounds 
Every sense with wild commotion! 



134 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

O how little know their friends 
Far beyond the angry waters 

Of the woe that hovers round 

Parents, lovers, sous and daughters I 

IV. 

Ah ! a glimmer breaks the spell ! 

Haven breaks upon the visiou ! * 
. Shout ye tars that now can tell 

Scorn to tempest in derision ! 
" Ha! They're safe !" resounds afar 

From the gaz-rs oy the ocean ; 
''Safe and rescued from the proud 

Tempest raving in its motion !" 

v. 

Hope inspires the weary breast; 

Joy succeeds to lamentation ; 
Winds have ceased — the billows rest 

Calmly on the sea's foundation ! 
All is miugled joy and glee ; 

Signs exchange with signs ; — the vision 
Half portrays but silently 

Winds o'erthrown and in derision ! 

VI. 

Joy is high ! The opening port 

Trembles with the vessel's motion ; — 
Down she goes with bubbling sound 

To the yawning caves of ocpan ! 
O what horrors seize upon 

Parent, husband, sister, brother, 
Wife and daughter, lover — all! 

Hope's a fiend ! Despair's another ! 




THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 135 



Tn the Woods. 
1. 

ft) WHAT a nameless feeling it instills 
!§! To wander through the pathless woods alone, 
To hear the music of the rippling rills 
That plunge along upon their beds of utone ! 
How sweet to view the scenery on the hills 
Our feet ascended in the days agone ! 
We pause to think ; and vainly wish to be 
In childhood once again so pure and free. 

II. 

But this cannot; once launched upon the sea 
Of Time we learn (and oh, how oft too late!) 
That we are ushered on and, on till we 
Have but a dim remembrance of the state 
We first enjoyed ; the primal purity 
Of life is gone ; and yielding to our fate, 
We see tempestuous clouds but dare not shrink 
Although we stand 1 on foul Destruction's brink! 

III. 
I know there are who claim that " man is free," 
And of his mis-ries make a lengthy text 
To prove that all things are as they should be — 
Reflected down to this world from the next ; 
I know there are who cannot bear to see 
A weary wight with inmost soul perplexed; 
This well I know — but can't suppress the strain 
That tells of woe and labor spent in vain. 

IV. 
The noise of Pomp allures us to its fane ; 
We catch a glimpse and henceforth are but slaves ; 
Ambition scatters round his fatal bane 
That poisons Purity and all that craves 
A holier life ; and Science lures the brain, 
And builds a temple darker than the graves; 
And all combine to make the man of Earth 
Curse his nativity and rue his birth. 



136 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

v. 

Thus life amid the strife and jarring throng ; 
How different far when in the silent wood 
Where every breeze that, passes soft along 
Inspires the heart and gives the spirit food I 
Tis here we listen to the ancient song . 
That Nature sang of old when unsubdued, 
We climbed the hills and with our infant eyes 
Peered through the foliage to the bending skies. 

VI. 
To pay these earlier haunts a passing stroll 
Inspires with raptures all the inner man ; 
The spirits of Poetry and of Silence roll 
Their airy flight around ; and all that can 
In any way absorb the thinking soul 
Loom up around till we adore the plan 
Of Nature, though perchance a ''broken heart" 
Forbids us to enjoy the tastes of Art. 



The Loss of Youth 
i. 

II VISIONS of the lovely Day! 

]§j§> Ye half inspire me with delight! 
As far as gleams the visual ray 

Fresh Nature blooms and shakes in light 
The crystal brook flows on serene 
The verdurous, rounded hills between ; 
The songsters of the air resound 
The beauties of the scene around. 

II. 
Yet I am sad ! And what the cause ? 

A love for times I can't forget ; 
I mourn — 'tis one of Nature's laws — 

The sun of Youth forever set ! 
'Tis vain to retrospect through time 
To prove that sorrow springs from crime ; 
I mourn — dispute the fact who can ?— 
That I've at last become a man ! 



7 HE MOUNTAIN BARD. 137 



The Midnight Soliloquy. 
i. 

|t LONE I sit! 'Twas midnight long ago ; 

j||§? And all but me ere now have gone to rest: — 
The babe lies sleeping on its mother's breast, 
The happiest thing on this Terrene below ; 

II. 

The school-boy laid his books and papers by 
Three hours ago, and closed his eyes for sleep ; 
All mourners now but me have ceased to weep, 
And wipe the tear-drop from the watery eye ; 

III. 

• Both great and poor— besides myself — it seems 
Have dropped their cares to spend in rest the night ; 
But I am doomed to sit (O, horrid sight!) 
To sit alone debarred of rest and dreams! 

IV. 
And what the cause? A restless state of mind : 
A doubtful fear of — who can tell me what? 
A thirst for that which is and yet is not; 
A dread of what o'erhangs all human kind ! 

V. 

A love for what I ne'er expect to see ; 

A doubt of what were else my blessings here ; 

A sorrow that survives in many a tear ; 

A hope — alas! what hope remains for me! 

VI. 
Still here I sit! Before me Darkness reigns; 
Behind me naught but weakness can be found;' 
A forlorn, wretched cumberer of the ground! 
My life a glimpse — then who knows what remains? 

VII. 
"^is thus when man his course of life reviews : 
What else were his, of slight account he deems 
And spurns aside ; and lives inwrapped in dreams 
Of future hopes and fears, a vain recluse. 



138 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

VIII. 

Could childhood wrap my feeble senses in, 
Nor let them stray their lonely circuit round, 
No bliss like mine could anywhere be found; — 
Alas for those who know the paths of sin ! 

IX. 

Still here I sit — unknown to sleep and rest — 

Desiring all and yet receiving none ! 

Thus many a night till rises forth the Suu 

And shoots his sparkling beams throughout the West, 

x. 
And what reward awaits me when I'm done? 
Alas! who knows the state beneath the sod 
Where man returns in silence to his God, 
A withered worm whose earthly race is run I 

xr. 
Alas ! we can but knew his Earthly store r 
Desire and hope and dread and want aad fear, 
His constant goods ; and when his hopes are clear, 
Out goes his light — and he is known no more t 



-:o:- 



A Fra 



GMENT. 



; 'HEN on Mount Libanus of ancient fame 

jg|§ The old man of the Mountain marshalled forth 

His gloomy devotees for deeds of shame 

And sent them roving up and down the Earth 
Bent on their prey like Satan when he came 

'Gainst honest Job, no potentate of Earth 
Could for a moment deem himself secure, 
So daring were the fiends and so impure. 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 139 



The Tomb of Mope, 
l 

'HE voice of the Past 
As it rides on the blast 
Is a dirge to the Soul with woes overcast; 
And for the Hope he reveres 
As the staff of his years 
But a dark-gleaming tomb stone is all that appears! 

II. 

When the sunshine of Youth 

And the pure love of Truth 
Could wrest the live honey from Care's poison tooth — 

Full little he then 

Knew the tortures of men 
When the dark tomb of Hope casts its shade on the glen ! 

ill. 

But he still ushered on, 

And on and still on, 
Till the season of Youth and its 'pleasures were gone ; 

And he now stands before 

The dark tomb and reads o'er 
The burden of Hope's epitaph — "Nevermore!" 

* 

IV. 

'Tis done ; — and the woe 

Of the dark Long Ago 
Now beats on the Soul with a withering blow ; 

And the visions of yore 

Are all blasted before 
The burden of Hope's epitaph--" Nevermore !" 



140 THE MOUNTAIN BAhD. 



ZF^ZR/T EIQ-HTHL 



The Father's Farewell. 
i. 

<3t DIEU, thou disobedient son ! 
^J5% Oft have I striven but in vain 

To check the course that thou hast run, 
And freely poured my tears as rain ! 

With thee I've spent the wakeful night; 

With thee I've shared thy far delight ; 

For thee I've felt the rending pain ; 

For thee I've labored long in vain ! 

II. 
And now farewell ! I would not do 

To thee as thou hast done to me ; 
I would not pierce thy spirit through 

And make a boast of Victory. 
Thou hast my warmest blessings spurned ; 
From my advices thou hast turned ; 
Thou hast rejected Love and Truth, 
And followed phantasies of Youth! 



THE MOUNTAIN BAUD. %A\ 



The Misef^ 



r. 

;HE wind blew shrill. The miser crept 
From out his dark and dusty room — 

More aptly called a living tomb — 
Wherein he lay but never slept; 
And now in deepest depth of night, 
Without the semblance ot a light, 
He seeks his gold so long his bane 
And clasps it to his heart again ! 

II. 

O depth of Misery and Night! 
The miser bending o'er his gold 
With bony hand and heart as cold 
As Polar ice, disdains the sight 
Of Love and Joy and Happiness, 
And buys with gold his deep distress! 
If this were money's purest end 
Well might we change its name to "Fiend 1" 

III. 
Tis thus the miser spends his time : 
The winds around his cabin door 
Still chant his mournful dirges o'er, 
As deep and deeper sinks in crime 
The slave of gold, the skeleton fool 
Whose life-blood now begins to cool ; 
Erelong upon his bed of rags 
He falls — and dies among his bags ! 

IV. 
The miser takes his leap for aye 
- From earth ; and as we hear his knell 
With deep regret the tale we tell 
Of how his soul was borne away ; 
Then comes a feeling of relief 
That checks the rising sigh of grief: 
" He's gone to dwell beneath the tomb, 
That better men may have his room 1" 



142 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Silent Eeggai^. 
i. 

!HE voice of Music and the voice of Love 
Re echoed sweetly through the palace hall 
And woke the echoes of supreme delight: 
A beggar stood a pondering how to pr^ve 
His wretchedness and yet not to appall 
The joyous inmates sheltered from the night! 

II. 

Inside the hall 'tis happiness supreme ; 
Love sweetens every tone that freights the air 
Aud brilliancy adorns the sweet delight : 
Without 'tis as a fever-haunted dream ; 
The wailing winds are echoes of despair 
And ushers of the miseries of night! 

I'll. 
Inside the palace Love begins to hold 
His revels in the maiden lap of Youth 
And fill his devotees with sweet delight: 
The wind arises heavier and cold ; 
The beggar sighs aloud the fatal truth — 
" Age cannot long withstand this gusty night !' 

IV. 
The voice of lovers in their locked embrace 
Is heard within the ancient palace hall 
Where maidens tremble at the nuptial vow — 
But oh ! what agonies and woe I trace 
On bis decrepit brow whose opening pall 
Disturbs the troubled vision even now ! 

v. 
'Tis sweetness all and fathomless delight 
Around the festal boards where voice of Love 
Re-echoes bick to Love that speaks again : 
The ancient beggar shivering in the night 
Would rather.die of hunger than to prove 
A recreant among the sons of men ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. ' 143 

vr. 
Full many a lad and many a lovely lass 
Account their sorrows murdered with delight 
Since their arrival at the beauteous dome: 
The ancient beggar struck his cane to pass 
Ahead into the gusty realm of night, 
Awed by remembrance of his ancient home! 

VII. 

The voice of Music still resounds within ; 
Still heave the youthful hearts with sweet delight 
As touched with the celestial lamp of Joy : 
Again the ancient beggar did begin 
To seek his journey through the darksome night 
Tnat threatened all his vigor to destroy! 

viir. 
The dead of bight has stolen upon the scene ; 
The gayeties are winding to a close 
That solace furnished for so many a wight: 

The crowds disperse; when lo ! with frightful mien 
A ragged beggar — heir to countless woes — 
O'erthrown and slain by the inclement night! 



:o:- 



J HE p 



MILES. 



I. 

"^HE Earth was robed with glistening sn<)w ; 
The sun had long forborne his rays; 

The clouds hung heavy, dull and 'ow, 

Fraught with the gloom of wiatry days; — 
When burst a gleam of solar light 
That smiles inspired of pure delight. 

II. 
A youth whose pleasure was to roam 

Had strayed o'er many a distant plain 
When memories of his lovely hotae 
Induced him to return again ; 

The sire to meet the wanderer went 
And smiles exchanged of pure content. 



144 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

in. 

Two lovers by the parlor fire 

Iu secret clasp enjoy their rest ; 
'■ Art mine?" " Thou know'st 'tis my desire F 
Of burden frees each throbbing breast ; 
And, as the traitorous blushes prove, 
Each face is fraught with smiles of love. 



f 



ENJAMIN; StRATT. 



jlENJAMIN STRATT wns a bachelor old 
?f|§! Who seemed to live but for his gold; 
By toil incessant, spurning rest, 
He gained the Mount of Fortune's crest ; 
But what true joy can spring from gold? — 
The miser's heait is always cold. 
'Tis said that Ben when in his youth 
Had loftier views of Love and Truth, 
And that his earlier love was spurned ; 
He then shut up his heart and turned 
His thoughts toward money — and in time, 
By toil incessant and by crime, 
Accumulated wealth till he 
The richest man was said to be 
In all the land. He then began 
To think of love and how to scan 
The distance measureless between 
Himself and her whose face serene 
Inspired his inmost soul with fire ; 
At length he roused and struck the lyre : 
" 'Tis long since I have thought of love, 
But now its power revives again, 
As all my trembling system proves ! 
Wilt thou depart from single life, 
And joined in love become my wife?" 
" What wouldst thou do?" quoth she amain, 
" To prove thy love ?" Poor Ben turned pale, 
And trembling offered to curtail 



THE M UN TA IN BA RD. 145 

His daily rations; and to bring 

His heart an humble offering. 

" And wilt thou clothe the poor?" she cried. 

" I will — if thou wilt be my bride!" 

" Wilt thou give alms to those that preach 

The Sacred Word within thy reach ?" 

Ben turning pale made promise due 

And trembling asked what else to do. 

"Wilt thitu refit thy house?" Ben said 

He'd lived therein for thirty yean-, 

And that the furniture though worn 

Was good enough. His love replied : 

" If thou wouldst have, me for thy bride 

Refit thy rooms ; 'twill cost at most 

Not one per cent of what thou hast." 

Ben faltered — stammered — then replied, 

"I will — if thou wilt be my bride!" 

" Wilt thou forget thy gold the while 

And dress in fashionable style ?" 

Here Benny failed; he could not spend 

His gold for such a worthless end ; 

But offered still to dress the while 

His wife in fashionable style ! 

She rose — somewhat at liberty — 

And said, " Thou art too cold for me! 

The man that for his lover's sake 

Cannot the miser's habits break 

Need not invite me for his wife — 

I'd much prefer a single life !" 



146 THE MOUNTAIN BALD. 



:F.A_:R/r .tsti^tth:. 



To the Pyramid of Cheops, 
i. 

CHEOPS, what art thou ? tomb ; 
Column for him to view who round thee plods; 
Or ruined temple where the flush aud bloom 

Of youth adored the Gods ? 

II. 

How long hast thou withstood 
The rolling storms that bellow round thy throne? 
Wilt thou not tell? or hast not understood 

How swiftly Time hath flown ? 

III. 

Who reared thy crest in air ? 
Speak'— for the anxious world awaits to hear. 
Have kings dwelt round thy throne that they might stare 

On thee from year to year ? 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 147 

IV, 

Since first thy lofty crest 
Flashed in the sunlight glistening from afar, 
The world hath greatly changed, but had no rest 

From loud and cruel war, 

v. 

Hast thou not quaked with fear, 
When hostile armies hailed from lands unknown, 
And with the saber, cannon, club and spear, 

Fought battles round thy throne? 

VI. 

When steel-clad armies shook 
The Eastern World, and rushed without a check 
O'er stately thrones — didst thou in silence look 

Upon the fearful wreck ? 

VII. 

Since thou wast throned of yore, 
The Grecian, Persian, Roman, Arab, Turk, 
Yea, Frank and Saxon, all have fought before 

Thy face 'mid storm aud murk ! 

VIII. 

Earth's mightiest monarchies 
Have risen and reigned aud fallen before thy face, 
And left the record of their dynasties 

In many a warlike trace ; 

IX. 

And Science hath unfurled 
Her balmy wing, and ta'en her distant flight 
Into the West, leaving the Eastern World 

To Barbarism and Night ; 

X. 

Yet still thou rearest thy head 
Fiom off the ruins of thine ancient land 
From which all culture, power and light have fled — 

All but the ruins and sand. 



14S THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



Jerusalem, 
i. 

JERUSALEM ! how thy name awakes the soul 
5 Of him who knows thy state in ages past, 

Since on thy hills the Jews assembled last, 

To praise Jehovah, reiuge from Sheol! 

II. 

Though stranger kings have leveled with the ground 

Thy walls, and torn thy holy Temple down, 

That on thy name shed luster and renown 

A thousand years through' all the regions reund — 

III. 

Though stranger gods o'er thee have held their sway 
And reaped the praises due to Israel's Grod — 
Though Pagans, Christians, Islams, all have trod 
Thy sacred streets and hastened their decay — 

IV. 
Thou'rt yet and still shalt be the Jew's delight, 
Who hold as naught all earthly praise but thine, 
And still expect upon thy hills to shine 
Messiah's face at breaking up of Night! 

V. 
iNor is thy name le?s sacred held by those 
Whose every act delares themselves to be 
Determined foes to Israel and to thee ; 
How complicate the tenets of thy foes ! 

VI. 

Since from thy sacred hills triumphant shone 
Great Caesar's blood stained banner waving high, 
Undecked has been thy face, unheard thy cry, 
And thou hast been by alien powers cast down. 

VII. 
The Roman, Persian, Arab, Osoaan, all 
Have turn by turn despoiled thy sacred lands ; 
And e'en crusaders with their blood stained hands 
Have swayed thy scepter — finished up thy fall ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. j.49 

vnr. 
Meanwhile thy guardian race afar dispersed 
By tyrants were forbid to see thy face; 
Thus eighteen centuries; yet time nor place 
Has changed the dogmas by their sires rehearsed ! 

IX. 

And though Destruction has detaced thy mount 
Till naught of former grandeur now remains, 
Thy sons still hope to break their servile chains, 
Rebuild thy glory, drink from out thy fount! 

X. 

Just God ! why lies Thy ancient city thus? 
Why rules the Moslem o'er Thy chosen land ? 
Why not the Jew permitted be to stand 
Upon these hills so famed in ancient verse ? 

XI. 
Is not Thy cup of vengeance emptied yet? 
Shall Israel's days of sorrow have no end? 
Shall Judah's sons no more thy hills ascend 
And offer praises where their freedom set? 

XII. 
Yes 1 Time will roll till fair Jerusalem 
Shall reasceud from out her worn debris, 
Resume her station, prove herself to be 
The Jews' inheritance — their priceless gem ! 



(RUSADERS AT JERUSALEM. 



The Crusaders at J 

1 



1. 

ERUSALEM swims in blood ! anon 
The dread commanders spend new breath 
To urge their fiery warriors on 
To deeds of Death. 



150 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 

II. 

The sacred hills where in the days 
Of yore full many a worthy trod, 
Are filled with slaughter for the praise 
Of Judah's God ! 



HI. 

Fanaticism inspires the hearts 
Of armies hailing from afar, 
And all the power to vigor starts 
That dwells in war. 



IV. 

The inhumau sound of woman's cry 
Dies off, nor on the 'warrior's ear 
Makes noted impress; lowers the sky 
Dark, bleak and drear. 



v. 
The thunders of Almighty Power 
Are rolling o'er, the destined throng ; 
And in an unprepared hour 
Sweep all along. 



VI. 
Dire sounds the war, and dire the cry 
Aseends from the tumultuous crowd ; 
While sulphurous smoke ascending high 
Forms quite a cloud. 



VII. 

Jerusalem on her ancient hills 
Ne'er felt but once a bloodier war ; 
But this the prophecy fulfills 
Of times afar. 



VIII. 
Behold ! where Solomon's Temple stood, 
A citadel with blood is drenched ! 
Crusaders' thirst for tears and blood 
Cannot be quenched. 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 151 

IX. 

A mob at least ten thousand strong 
Are murdered, and the horrid cry 
Ascends amid the conqueror's song 
The crimson skv. 



X. 
And now behold ! with dripping hands 
The dread Crusaders kneel before 
The Sepulcher; these murdering bands 
Their God adore! 



XI. 
O depths of Infamy and Shame ! 
Let reason pluck the life of War; 
And Justice tremble at the name, 
And stand afar. 



XII. 
'Tis o'er; Jerusalem, piled on heaps, 
Sends forth an agonizing groan ; 
And Godefroy aided by the Powers 
Ascends the thrrne. 



XIV. 
And while tumultuous clouds surround 
Of wars and tears, he sits secure 
On Salem's throne; a sovereign crowned 
With heart impure. 



XV. 
Thus Judah, Fate decreed thy doom, 
Since thou didst scorn thy rightful Lard ; 
Thy fall begun when crushed by Rome, 
And ends abhorred. 



XVI. 

Yet thou wilt rear thy head on high 
When better times thy power release, 
And hail beneath a gracious sky, 
Returning Peace I 



162 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



JA 



oscow, 



T. 
I BANDONED to a furious foe 
PI Whose code of war all nations know, 
Thou art adjudged to scenes of woe, 
Moscow ! 

n- 

The greatest warrior earth hath known, 
Surveys thee — powerless and alone — 
And deems thy palaces his own, 
Moscow ! 



III. 
Then rouse thee to thy double might! 
Pass round the cheers and enter fight ; 
The earth shall judge who's in the right, 
Moscow ! 



IV. 

Thou art the key to Fortune's door, 
Than which Napoleon asks no more ; 
Defeated here his game is o'er, 
Moscow ! 



V. 
Ha ! whence those flames that wrap the sky ? 
Hast thou resolved for once to try 
A suicidal victory ? 

Moscow ! 

VI. 
'Tis o'er ; the invader now must flee ; 
One struggle more and earth is free ! 
Whom should we honor more than thee ? 
Moscow ! 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 153 



The Battle of Trafalgar 
t. 

|HE battle stood. The frightened whale 
Sunk to the caverns of the sea ; 
The birds ascended ; then the gale 
Burst wild and free. 

II. 
The Saxon and the Frank have met 

Once more in battle ; tears and blood 
Are freely poured upon the jet 
And startled flood. 

III. 
From many a brazen gun the flame 

Burst fiercely forth — a vivid stream — 
And nations trembled at the name 
That 's now our theme. 

IV. 

Dread lightnings flashed from shore to shore ; 

Infernal thunders shook the world ; 
And France and Albion rushed through gore 
With flag unfurled. 

y. 

Cadiz, from off her island throne, 

Gazed seaward ; trembled at the roar, 
Gibraltar on his heaps of stone 
And marred his shore. 

VI. 

Great was the loss and great the woe 
That this king-making battle cost ; 
Tis o'er ; and e'en the victory 
To us is lost. 

VII. 

The fight is lost to all but Fame ; 

Dread Fame- that stands amid the war, 
And shouts '~i thunder tones the name 
Of "Trafalgar!" 



154 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



P 



AD1Z. 



I. 

ERE Rome's foundation stone 
Was hewn or placed, or London had her birtb, 
Or dynasty ;issurned a royal throne 

That figures on the Earth ; 

II. 

Ere Grecian heroes trod 
The fields of Glory or the assembled throngs 
Beneath the Temple's roof adored their God 

In prayer and fervent songs ; 

111: 

While round the Earth was thrown — 
One Laud except — a darkness deep, profound ; — 
Cadiz from off her sea bound island shone 

Conspicuous far around. 

IV. 

For thrice a thousand years, 
'Mid wreck of falling empires and the groan, 
Or armed with roaring guns or armed with spears, 

Her isle has been her throne. 

V. 

As ages rolled along, 
The native Celt, the Roman, Goth and Moor, 
Each in his turu with sinewy arm and strong 

Spread tumult round her shore. 

VI. 

Full many a Pagan breathed 
From in her bounds his spirit back to God ; 
Yea, Islam too ; since when in glory wreathed 

Her shores have Christians trod. 

VII. 

Should cycles endless roll 
O'er Earth as now 'tis formed, her active part 
Of countless scenes from out the human soul 

Would never, ne'er depart. 



THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 155 



The Turk-B 



1. 

CONSTANTINOPLE powerless stands 
A powerful eityi" cried the Turk; 
And marshalled forth, his variant bands. 
And set to work. 

If. 
The East already owned his sway.; 
His pride was al Ambition's height; 
His valor feared u<> £ight by day 
Nor plot by night. 

III. 

Around him gathered at his eall 
His war -chiefs filled with zeal for war, 
And swore to conquer or to fall 
In climes afar. 

IV. 
The Islam horde with flag unfurled 
To conquest marched beyond the Strait, 
And filled with fury bade the world 
Yield to her fate. 

v. 
And Europe — O, what deep disgrace! — 
Filled with intestine violence, 
Stood mute and in the " Turk bell" placed 
Her confidence I 

VI. 

Brief was the war. The Sultan gained 
Constantinople's barracks; and 
His dynasty has since profaned 
The Grecian land. 

VII. 

Let States no more a barbarous horde 
Strive to impede with Heavenly arms; 
Or ring the " Turk-bell" when the cloud 
Of war alarms/ 



156 THE MOUNTAIN BARD. 



The Fame of Jerusalem. 

jfERUSALEM! thou City of God, 
g|r Wherein the wise kino; Solomon trod ! 
Why hist thou been in later time 
The seat of Crime? 



II. 

Thy day of power is gone ; 
When Rome sat foot upon 
Thy sacred hills, she hurhd the blight 
Of deepest Night! 

III. 
Proudest of ancient cities, thou 
Hast outlived War; and even now 
Though trampled by the foe, thy name 
Still shines the same. 



IV. 

Imperial Rome would sooner fail 
To lure the traveler, or the wail 
Of Babylon cease to rend the sky, 
Than thou wouldst die. 



V. 
Thou judgment-place of Jesus! Who 
Can give thy name the reverence due? 
When we remember whither trod 
The Son of God ! 

VI. 
O'er every place beneath the sky 
Hans: dark Oblivion's curtains high ; 
But thou hast plucked 'mid scenes of strife 
The Tree of Life ! 



C 32 89 



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